There is an outdoor recreation boom sweeping the entire western world and this continent in particular.There has been nothing like it in the past. Yes, the out-of-doors has always had an appeal for some, butthey have been a small minority. Two decades ago you could go on a canoe trip in the summer monthsin the wilderness of Quetico and not see another soul for an entire week. Not today. You are lucky if yousee only three or four canoeing parties a day.

Arctic rivers that have not seen a white man's canoe since the big fur-trading era, today are beingtraveled regularly. The old trails of the western mountains, untrodden since the days of mountain menand early prospectors, are being hiked and backpacked today. During the height of summer, campingareas in many parks are full. In the past, being a fishing and hunting outfitter was a risky business. It stillis, but today many outfitters in the more popular areas have no difficulty in attracting clientele.

This phenomenon is world-wide. In many of the national parks of Africa, one can see a pride of mini-buses around every lion. I have even met a convoy of two land rovers on safari in the middle of theKalahari Desert in Botswana.

The reasons for this outdoor boom are many. A greater interest in wildlife is one. Twenty years agohunters and fishermen were the only large groups interested in wildlife. Today, almost everyone has acasual interest in wild creatures. This interest is not always tempered with wisdom, and is rarelyaccompanied by knowledge. At times wildlife management agencies are hampered in their work bypeople who prefer to have deer starve than to have them hunted by outdoorsmen.

Other reasons for the outdoor boom are more leisure time, a more affluent society, and better highwaysand rapid transportation systems. Thirty years ago, if a New York big-game hunter wanted to hunt in theYukon, it took him five days just to reach Whitehorse. Today, he is there in less than a day. But I thinkthat the biggest reason for the outdoor boom is a spiritual rebellion against our sophisticated, affluentsociety. Deep down we hunger for a quieter life, a slower pace, green grass, and the sight of pale bluewood smoke curling up toward the sky. We want to "get away from it all," but at times we bring it allwith us in the form of tent cities and slums. Everyone who ventures into the out-of-doors should possess the basic skills for outdoor living. Heshould know how to make a good campfire, what types of wood give fast heat for boiling tea, and whattypes provide hot flames for broiling steaks. He should know how to paddle a canoe, how to forecastweather, how to use a compass, what the sudden cry of a bluejay means, and what a bear is up to whenhe stands on his hind legs. The average outdoorsman does not have to be a wilderness survival expert,but he should know the basics. After all, almost everyone can become lost or lose his gear when hiscanoe is upset in a choppy wilderness lake. The outdoorsman should know all this and much more. He should know about the natural worldaround him - how it lives and functions. He should know its moods, its sounds, and its signals. Butabove all, the outdoorsman must have a code, an outdoor ethic, to ensure that his life and travels in theout-of-doors are in harmony with nature. Man, like all creatures, is a user. This is how nature createdhim. Frequently our use leaves wounds. Every campfire, every hiking trail, every fish caught, and everygrouse shot is a wound. But these are wounds that nature heals and repairs with ease. An outdoorsmanshould never leave wounds that will permanently scar. That is what the outdoor code and the outdoorethic are all about.

Chapter IUnderstanding the Out-of-Doors

A good outdoorsman is more than just a man who enjoys the out-of-doors and possesses the necessaryskills for an outdoor life. The ability to identify that little brown bird on the dogwood branch and knowwhy crows mob on a hardwood ridge are not enough. To be a good outdoorsman a man should know allthis, but more important, he must understand how nature around him functions.

Let us imagine that we are high on a ridge overlooking a forested valley. It is apparent that the forest isthe dominant factor of all life in the valley. Through the canopy of green, we can see the occasional grayskeleton of a dead tree. As we walk through the valley, we see the forest floor. In places nothing butlarge trees grow. The floor is covered with leaves from last autumn. In other places, where spots of lightpenetrate the green blanket over our heads, seedlings and saplings grow, their branches hungrilyreaching toward the light. Here and there tree trunks dot the forest floor, their bodies in various stages ofdecay. Gray skeletons of a few dead trees still stand upright.

Not all the dead trees are big and old. Trees seldom die of old age. They die from competition. As aseedling sprouts, it immediately begins to compete with other seedlings around it for light, nourishment,and moisture. As it grows into a sapling, it competes again against other saplings for the same essentialelements. A tree lives as long as it has the strength to endure the competition. It lives as long as it canendure depredations from creatures of all kinds. Insects feed on its tissues; rodents gnaw at its bark; deerbrowse at its tips. A tree is also host to fungi and bacteria. Creatures and organisms of all kinds use atree for food and shelter.

The forest and the creatures that live in it are woven together in an intricate web. Rodents that prey onthe tree are in turn preyed upon by foxes and owls. Deer that browse the tree tips are preyed upon bywolves, and at times by men. Insects that feed on the tree are preyed upon by birds. And birds that liveamong the branches of the tree scatter the seeds of trees so that new trees will grow. When a calamitystrikes a part of the forest, a portion of that web, its impact reverberates throughout all the other strandsof the web.

In what is now a classical study of a forest community, Dr. Arthur Williams conducted populationresearch in a sixty-five acre beech and hard-maple woodlot. The year the study began, the beeches andmaples produced bumper crops of fruits, nuts, and samaras. As a result, small mammals wereexceedingly abundant in the area. The following summer there was a drought and the crops of nuts andsamaras failed. Insect hatches were poor as well.

The impact was catastrophic on the creatures of the woodlot. Gray squirrels declined drastically innumber. Many moved out. Chipmunks starved in the winter because they could not store enough food tofeed themselves. Their population crashed by ninety percent. The shrews, which are insectivorous, couldnot find enough insects to feed on; hence they turned to preying on forest mice. Under the onslaught ofabnormally heavy predation, the mouse population decreased by eighty percent. As the population ofmice declined, the shrew population also dropped by sixty-five percent. Why? They starved.

The failure of the nut and samara crop also had an impact on the larger mammals. In the autumn, thewoodlot held about forty cottontails. Two red foxes and several skunks hunted there frequently. The nextspring only two rabbits remained. The reason was the lack of mice. The foxes were forced to spend moretime hunting cottontails because mice, their usual prey, were reduced to such low levels by the shrews.Skunks, which also prey on mice and on insects, left the woodlot completely.

The following year the maples and beeches produced normal crops of samaras and nuts. Mice,chipmunks, and squirrels increased to their usual numbers. By autumn, there were over fifty rabbits inthe woodlot. Why? During the year when the mice and cottontails were reduced in numbers, no animalsbrowsed and gnawed on the twigs and shoots of the brush and the young maples and beeches.Everything grew in profusion. There was a superabundance of food the following year, and the rabbitsmultiplied.

There is no doubt that similar fluctuations occurred among the birds - seed eaters, insect eaters, and birdsof prey. But since birds can move about much more readily, they were less affected than the cottontails,chipmunks, mice, and shrews, who are homebodies,

The forest and its creatures live together in an intricate web. Each year some must die to nourish andmake room for others. spending their entire lives in one small "home range".

Although the actions and interactions of the plants and wildlife in this woodlot were under scientificscrutiny, any observant outdoorsman could have made reasonably accurate deductions as to what washappening, the reasons for it, and what might happen in the future. A good outdoorsman understands theoutdoor world around him. Long before such biological terms as ecology, habitat, eco-system, carryingcapacity, annual turnover, and environment became common usage, many old-time woodsmen knewabout them. They did not know the words themselves, indeed they would not have known what theymeant, but they knew the happenings behind these terms.

A decade or more ago towards the end of winter I spent a few days with an old French-Canadian trapper.When the talk turned to what kind of a season he had had, he showed me a stack of two dozen lynx pelts.

"Been getting a few more every year for the past eight or nine years," he said. "But this will be the lastgood year for them cats. There ain't no rabbits any more and these lynx were kind of poor. Some wasn'tvery big."It'll take the rabbits a few years to come back, and then I'll start getting them cats again," he continued.

The astuteness of his conversation struck me later. I am sure that he never thought of his observations asbeing particularly noteworthy, but they were. He had summarized not only the essence of a predator-prey relationship, but also an understanding of the complexity of the snowshoe hare-lynx cycle. Heknew that as snowshoe hare populations increased in their ten-year cycle, the number of lynx would alsoincrease, but when the snowshoe hare cycle crashed to its low point, the lynx population would alsodecline, but one year after the hares. The fact that the cats were thin and that some, the young of thatyear, were somewhat smaller than normal showed that they were undernourished,

Observations and deductions such as these can be made by anyone who understands what is happeningaround him. A South Dakota pheasant hunter can get a fairly good idea of the kind of fall pheasantseason he can expect by remembering the severity of the previous winter and the temperatures andrainfall of the spring that followed it. If the winter had had deep snow, pheasants would have survivedonly in the best of covers. This means that the breeding population would be lower than average. If thespring had been wet and cold, the size of hatches and survival of pheasant chicks would be poor. Lowbreeding populations and poor hatches and poor survival of chicks means low populations of pheasantsin the fall.

In mid-winter, with little snow, pheasants will survive even in marginal covers. A high breedingpopulation in the spring will result. If the spring is favorable, good hatches and high chick survival rateswill result. A high breeding population, good hatches, and good survival of chicks will mean a bumpercrop of ringnecks in the fall.

Every outdoorsman should understand the basic law of nature the principle of carrying capacity. Thetenets of this law can be seen on almost every outing, even in a city park. If you want to see certainspecies of wildlife, you go to places where they are abundant. For example, if you want to see a white-tailed deer, you go into a young forest with much brush and sapling growth. The deer here have plentyof browse. Mature forests have low carrying capacity for deer, because tender shoots and branches aretoo high for the deer to reach. On the other hand, if you want to see wild turkey, you must go to matureforests because only mature forests bear mast for turkeys to feed on.

The main reason why any species of animal is abundant is because the habitat is suitable for its mode oflife. In other words, the habitat has the capacity to support that species - to give it food and shelter. Butthere is more to it than that. The carrying capacity of any habitat is limited. Just as a bridge with awarning sign "Eight-Ton Limit" has a limited carrying capacity, so any given habitat has one as well.

For example, nearly every winter many of the northern Great Lakes states report starvation among deer.This is simply the law of carrying capacity in action. If there are too many deer for the habitat tosupport, some of the deer must die. This carrying capacity is not static. In a severe winter of deep snows,the carrying capacity is decreased because the deer herds will confine themselves to sheltered areas.Conversely, in mild winters, deer herds spread out and thereby increase the carrying capacity of theforest. Their survival rate in mild winters is high.

Some years ago Missouri biologists carried out a three-year study on bobwhite quail in two areas of thesame size holding about the same numbers of quail. In one area all hunting was banned and conservationofficers enforced the ban. In the other area hunting was allowed during the normal quail season. At theend of every winter, the bobwhite populations in these two areas proved to be the same. The law ofcarrying capacity was the reason for this. There was no way that the quail could increase beyond thewinter carrying capacity of their range. Nature would not let them. In one way or another, the surplusquail were disposed of.

If a city park has a carrying capacity of fifty robins, every spring you will find not more or less than thatnumber, regardless of the number of young robins that were hatched the previous summer. In lakes, foodis frequently the determining factor in carrying capacity. With fish, carrying capacity can be expressedin terms of pounds per acre. If a lake has sufficient food for a thousand largemouth bass to grow to onepound, then twohundred bass would be able to grow to five pounds each.

Carrying capacities of habitats increase and decrease with time. Forest fires may be devastating whenthey are burning, but they bring benefits as well. We have made a cult of Smokey the Bear, but in manycases this has been at the expense of wildlife. A forest fire is only temporarily destructive. Any moose-hunting guide in northern Ontario will tell you that the best moose hunting is on old bums, about twentyyears after the fire. There is a lot of sapling

Trees live only as long as they can endure competition from other trees and depredation from bacteria,fungi, insects, and mammals. But even when a tree dies, it decays and nourishes others.growth and feedfor moose at that time. Indeed, as nature repairs the damage by establishing young forests, a greatvariety and abundance of wildlife develop in the early stages. Wildlife biologists have recognized thisand are now actually burning marginal forests to create better wildlife habitat.

The carrying capacity of most habitats can be increased or decreased. When a farmer decides to clean upa brushy fence row, or clear the fence completely so that his big farm machinery can work moreeffectively, he is destroying the home of a variety of birds and small mammals. When a marsh is drainedor a new expressway is built, the same thing happens. The reason that bluebirds have decreased innumbers in many areas is a by-product of our search for beauty. We have cut down many old hollowtrees. Without hollow trees, bluebirds have no place to nest. The list of such cases is endless.

In nature, the life of a single individual is meaningless. For every creature born, one must die. Naturehas long ago asserted that two monarch butterflies or two northern pike cannot occupy the same place atthe same time. The well attuned outdoorsman recognizes this. He recognizes that life is based on theconversion of carbon atoms from one form to another. He recognizes that energy is released by thisconversion. He recognizes that every creature on earth, including man, is a user and a consumer of thecarbon atoms. He also recognizes that in our use, we must strive for harmony with nature and thewounds that we leave as a result of our use must heal quickly, without leaving a scar.The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert teach their sons the skills of hunting how to stalk and call game,how to understand the tracks of animals and other game signs, the habits and behavior of animals, andeverything else about the dry, sparse desert brush around them. The boys learn from childhood. They aretaken on hunting forays at a very early age and there is no doubt that experience is a good teacher. Ittakes mud on your boots and many hours of observation, both in sunny weather and foul, to learn aboutthe habits and ways of wildlife.

But there are other ways of learning many outdoor skills. For example, I have learned to identify manybirds without leaving my living room. Two bird feeders outside the window and a bird guide were agreat help. One feeder contained seeds for the seed-eating birds, while the other held suet for the insecteaters. In my spare moments, I would watch the birds. Whenever a strange bird visited one of thefeeders, I would identify it with the help of the bird guide. Once I learned how to spot their keyidentifying features and learned to recognize the more common ones, I was ready for the birds inwoodlots and wilderness areas.

One can learn a great many outdoor skills from books. Indeed, this is one of the reasons for writing thisone. I don't mean to imply that books are a substitute for actual experience. They can't do that, but theycan give you the basic instructions - a foundation that will make the learning process in the field mucheasier. They can save you time, money, and mistakes. From books, you can learn the basics of using acompass, sharpening a knife, choosing a canoe, setting a snare or trap, identifying tracks, or identifyingwild plants, whether edible or poisonous. The list is endless. Once you know the basics, experience willgive you proficiency. None of us has enough time to learn all these skills by trial and error and learningsolely by experience is a matter of trial and error.

Aside from books, instruction from someone who knows is another way to knowledge. In many casesteachers are superior to books. Learning how to cast with a fly rod is much easier with proper instructionthan reading a dozen chapters on casting in a dozen flyfishing books. The same can be said aboutpaddling a canoe, sharpening a knife, and a host of other things. There is no doubt that an experienced,skillful partner from whom one can learn is an invaluable asset.

Phonograph records and tapes can be used to learn how to call ducks, geese, and crows, or how toimitate the plaintive distress call of a rabbit, which will attract such predators as foxes and coyotes.Recorded bird songs are an excellent way to learn to identify the songs of birds.

However, there are things that books and people can explain, but never really teach. To become a goodoutdoorsman, one needs exposure to the out-of-doors, but one also needs some basic aptitudes - keenpowers of observation and an alert mind capable of rational and logical thinking. Unfortunately noteveryone possesses these traits. Some people never learn to think or to see beyond the obvious. Withmany people it is not a question of ability, but of concentration. A business executive going on aweekend backpacking trip will not think beyond the obvious if he is subconsciously thinking about aMonday morning sales meeting. Our way of life, our society, frequently makes such strong demands onus that we cannot divorce ourselves from them and immerse ourselves completely in our recreationalpursuits.I learned at an early age that a flock of crows cawing angrily and milling about meant that they had anowl or a hawk up a tree. Birds of prey, particularly the great homed owl, are traditional enemies ofcrows. If you are a bird watcher, coming across a group of angry crows like this could mean anopportunity to see a hawk or an owl.

A bluejay calling from the same spot probably indicates that it has spotted some predator, perhaps a fox,and is boldly scolding the predator and announcing its presence. The bluejay will also call when it seesyou slipping through the woods. I doubt if there is a deer hunter around whose presence has not beenbroadcast by a bluejay.

When a beaver far down the lake slaps his tail on the water and dives under, it means only one thing -something has frightened it. It may have been a fisherman, but if you are deep in the bush where fewpeople travel, it could have been something else. I saw my first pack of timber wolves, a bitch withseveral half grown cubs, under exactly this kind of circumstance. I had stopped fishing for a moment tosee what was alarming the beaver, when suddenly the wolves emerged from the woods and beganwalking along the shore. They passed across a small bay, no more than 120 yards from me. Since thattime, I have seen other wolves, black bear, moose, and deer under similar circumstances.

TRAINING YOUR SENSES

There is no question that our life styles have dulled our sense of sight, hearing, and very probably smellas well. It is not that our eyes are less sharp or our hearing less keen than those of our ancestors, but wedon't use our eyes or our ears in the same way.

Eight or nine years ago I took a city friend moose hunting - his first moose hunt. Before dawn the firstmorning we walked to a beaver meadow and sat down on a high ridge. As the first arrows of light hurledthemselves across the yellow grass, we began glassing the meadow for moose.

"There's nothing there," my partner said almost out loud.

"I wouldn't say that. I see a cow with two calves," I whispered.

"Where?"

"Over that clump of spruce. Those moose are just inside the bush."

My partner focused his binoculars on the spot I had indicated, but still could not see the moose. Theyblended fairly well with the dark spruce, but to me, they were not all that inconspicuous. What gavethem away were their backs - the only horizontal lines among a mass of vertical ones. Not until one ofthe calves moved was my partner able to pick them out. Looking for horizontal lines in a forest is one ofthe first tricks I learned in the outdoors. Sure I see a great many fallen logs and rocks, but I also seegame which would otherwise escape my notice.Another thing I learned early is never to look for an entire animal. You will seldom ever see one in abush until you have waited it out and it steps into the open. If you want to see a squirrel on a high oak,don't look for a squirrel. Rather look for the tip of a tail, the odd comer of a head sticking out, or a bumpon a branch that may be the bushytail's back, and so on.

You must also learn where to look. This requires a fair amount of knowledge about the habitats ofanimals. Don't expect to see a goshawk sitting high in the top branches of a dead elm. Generallygoshawks sit in the middle branches and nearly always in live trees that offer some cover. They prefer tosit on the edges of clearings, not outside, but only a little way into the bush.

Similarly, you will seldom see an old buck deer walking out in the open in broad daylight. The only timehe will be in the open is at dusk or dawn when something has really scared him, but then he will berunning. Big old bucks prefer to travel in some cover - just inside the tree line, by a brushy fence row, oralong a wooded ridge. That is where you should be looking. Incidentally, foxes usually behave in thesame way. A fox may lie down in an open field to sun itself, but it will have gone there at dawn. Onceit's there, it will stay there, relying on stillness and camouflage for protection, unless someone orsomething frightens it.

One of the things that separates a seasoned woodsman from a beginner is the ability to interpret signs.An experienced outdoorsman makes a mental note of everything he sees - a track, a clump of droppings,a rub mark, or a claw mark on a tree. Once a partner of mine and I were hiking up a steep portage trail. Ilugged the canoe while he carried our gear and fishing tackle. We were going to fish a small lake on ahigh hill. As we labored up the path, we came across a pile of bear dung. Our talk turned to bears.

"You know," my partner said, "I've never seen a bear in the bush except in the big national parks outwest, and those roadside bears can hardly be considered wild."

"I can probably show you one today," I replied.

"That's kind of a tall statement," my partner answered.

It was obvious that he was more than skeptical about my claim. I said nothing. Coming back late thatafternoon I put the canoe down at a sharp ridge and told my partner to leave the gear beside it. I dug outa pair of small binoculars from my packsack and told my partner to follow me quietly. I knew thecountry well. About half a mile from the trail, the hill became a gentle slope. A forest fire had burnedover the slope twenty or more years ago. The new trees were in the sapling stage of growth and includedseveral big clumps of wild cherries. There was a good chance that a bear would be feeding on thecherries.

My hunch was right. In fact, there were four bears. We watched them for a while until we were afraidthat darkness would overtake us if we didn't leave."How did you know the bears would be there?" my partner asked when we got back to our canoe andgear.

"Oh, I put two and two together," I replied. "There were cherry pits in the bear dung. I knew that thisslope had wild cherries on it because I hunted grouse here a couple of years ago. And bears are generallymore active in the mornings and evenings during the summer months, so they would most likely be atthe cherries in the late afternoon or early morning."

SOUNDS AND SMELLS

Learning to recognize sounds is equally important to learning to see and interpret signs. Generally ourears are attuned to the mechanical sounds that are such a large part of our world, but every bird ormammal emits a sound of some sort as well. So do fish, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.

There is no doubt as to what the buzzing of a rattle on a rattlesnake means. But first you must be able toidentify the sound. I've known people who lived in country where rattlesnakes were common and whoventured outdoors regularly, but who did not know how a rattlesnake sounded. That kind of ignorancecould cost them their lives.

Learning to identify wildlife sounds is a facet of outdoorsmanship, but it is equally important to learnwhat the sounds mean. The chatter of a red squirrel as it scampers about unconcerned has a specifictone. That tone completely changes when the squirrel spots potential danger.

Once I actually saw a fisher chase a red squirrel through the treetops. What alerted me to this was thehysterical chatter before the chase started. Once the fisher was in pursuit, the squirrel stopped its chatter.It was too busy running for its life.

I am certain that crows possess the most developed language of all birds. I like crows. They may berogues, but they are not as black as they are sometimes painted. When I was a kid on the family farm, Ispent much of my spare time trying to outwit these sly birds as they gorged themselves on freshlyplanted corn. Mind you, I learned the futility of this early, but it was always a good excuse for roamingin the woodlot. That is how crows earned my everlasting admiration. They seemed to possess a soundfor almost every situation and more than one for a boy with a shotgun.

Our sense of smell has also been blunted, probably by constant exposure to automobile exhausts,outboard motors, dust, and smoke of all kinds, including cigarettes. I have noticed that when I have beenaway from the city in the wilderness for a week or two, my sense of smell becomes much sharper. I candetect odors that would normally remain hidden.

Man, or any primate for that matter, is not known for his olfactory powers. But my association with thepre-literate tribes of Africa has shown me that these people do possess a better sense of smell than wedo. No doubt once industrialization catches up with them, they too will lose it.However, our sense of smell does allow us to enjoy the outdoors more the fragrance of flowers, thepleasant but pungent odor of humus and moss, the sharp smell of cedar, and the sweet smell of pine. Butat times it is possible to smell more than that. A bull elk in rut has a very strong odor. I once knew a big-game guide who could smell elk before he could see them. Big rattlesnakes also exude a strong, goat-like smell when angry. Bears sometimes emit strong odors. At times I have smelled bear long beforeseeing their fresh tracks in soft earth. These odors are so distinctive that once they are identified, youwill never forget them.

As I write this, my favorite dog is curled up at my feet underneath my desk. This is her favorite spotwhen I am working. I have often wondered what it would be like to have a sense of smell like hers. Shecan point a ruffed grouse at thirty yards or farther.

INTERPRETING ANIMAL ACTIONS

Interpreting the actions of birds and mammals is something that can be learned only by observing them.Once while on a canoe trip in northern Manitoba, I met a young couple on an island campsite. Our talkeventually turned to blueberries. The young woman expressed great interest in picking some. The threeof us paddled across to the mainland and climbed a steep hill to look for a blueberry patch. We foundone, but a black bear in the brown-color phase that is common in western Canada, had found it first.

The bear greeted our intrusion by standing up.

"He's going to charge!" the man injected fearfully. With this, the bear dropped onto its four feet and witha loud "whoof " bounded into the bush.

"What made you think he was going to charge?" I asked incredulously.

"When I saw him stand, I thought we were in trouble," the young man said.

"Bears standing on their hind legs charge only in wood cuts of old books and calendars," I answered.The bear had stood up to have a better look at us. He was trying to figure out what we were. Bears havevery poor eyesight. When a bear charges, he comes on all fours. That is the only way he can run fast. Ina really determined charge, his mouth is wide open and his lips are in full snarl. He is likely to roar whenhe begins the charge. And, of course, the only bear that will charge a man unprovoked is a grizzly or apolar bear.

Almost everyone knows that to approach big game you must have the wind in your favor - blowing intoyour face or at least across your face. But there are other things to consider as well. Wild sheep andpronghorns have extremely good eyesight. A man appearing against a skyline will frighten both species.If you want to get close to a bighorn or a pronghorn, walk below the ridge top, stealing only peeks overthe hilltop. Sheep are generally easier to approach from above. They don't seem to be as watchful in thatdirection, probably because potential predators such as wolves, cougars, or bears generally approachfrom below. Get above the sheep if you want to have a closer look or if you want to get within camerarange.

If you want to see big game, pay close attention to thermal breezes. As the air heats and cools in hilly,rolling country, it causes thermal breezes. At times these breezes are so gentle and faint that you may notnotice them. In the morning, when the sun's early rays hit the side of a mountain that has been cool allnight, the air at the lower elevation warms up and gently flows uphill. In the late afternoon, when thehillside becomes dark, the reverse happens and the thermal breeze flows downward.

To someone out for a stroll, thermal breezes mean nothing. But if you are hunting big game - with acamera or a rifle - these breezes become important. They can carry a warning scent from you to theanimal, spooking it before you can even get close.

Chapter 3Wildlife Hazards

The western mountains are a spectacular sight, but a mountain slope without wild sheep is just alandscape. It is wildlife that makes landscapes come alive. There is no doubt that wildlife is one of thebig attractions, one of the main reasons why people venture into the out-of-doors.

Yet there are times when some species can prove to be something of a nuisance, or even a hazard. Forexample, I have had porcupines chew up my ax handles and canoe paddles. Of course, the porkies wereafter the salt on the handles from the sweat off my hands. I have also had raccoons raid my foodsupplies, and even chipmunks and mice will nibble holes in cardboard food boxes to get at the contents.I have even had mink steal my fish. These nuisances are easy to cope with. In most cases the damage isdue to the outdoorsman's carelessness. On canoe trips I hang my food when asleep or when I am awayfrom camp. When camping with an automobile, I lock my food in a metal ice chest or wooden box. Inow keep my ax and canoe paddles by my side when asleep, or in a tent when I am away. And I havenever minded sharing my catch with a mink, particularly if I can get a look at this attractive little fur-bearer.

However, every outdoorsman must recognize that there are species of wildlife that are potentiallydangerous. All bears are potentially dangerous, particularly females with young, and bears that just feelthreatened. Bull moose during the rutting season have been known to be cantankerous. All smallcarnivores - foxes, coyotes, skunks, and raccoons, in particular - are potential rabies carriers. Of courseeveryone realizes that poisonous snakes are dangerous. Porcupines are dangerous to dogs. But mostdangerous of all are big-game animals on roads and highways. There are ways to cope with all thesepotential hazards.

BEARS

All bears can be dangerous. The black bear seldom presents any real hazard. Sows with cubs haveattacked people when they believed that the cubs were threatened, but unprovoked attacks are extremelyrare. Black bears can be a nuisance. I have had black bears raid my food supplies and even break intomy tent. I have had them steal moose meat from me. Black bears raid garbage containers and"panhandle" in many of the national parks. These half-tame bears are very dangerous because they haveno natural fear of humans. I remember one particularly stupid incident of a black bear badly mauling awoman tourist. The woman was feeding the bear cookies while her husband was filming the event, butthe woman ran out of cookies and the bear became angry because his supply of cookies had suddenlybeen cut off.

Grizzly bears (and in this I include the big Alaskan brown bear) and polar bears are much moredangerous and more aggressive than black bears. They are also much bigger and much stronger. Thepolar bear is dangerous because he seldom, if ever, comes into contact with humans. Polar bears haveactually come up to people from a great distance.

Grizzlies attack people with some regularity. The grizzly has been known to attack completelyunprovoked. Some years ago one grizzly killed two young women in one of the big national parks whilethey were asleep in their sleeping bags.

Sows with cubs are more prone to attack than lone bears. If you ever accidentally come between a sowgrizzly and her cubs, she will attack. But a grizzly at a food site, such as a winter-starved elk, is alsodangerous. If the bear thinks that you are out there to steal his food, he may come at you. More than onebig-game hunter has been charged by a grizzly that claimed the hunter's kill.

Of course a wounded grizzly is very dangerous. If he gets away into thick cover, the deck becomesvastly stacked in his favor. I figure there is better than a fifty-fifty chance that the hunter will be mauledor killed.

Both polar bears and grizzlies will also raid food caches if they come across them. But they are not theraiders that the black bear is. This may be because they are not as numerous as black bears and becausethey live in areas where large numbers of people never venture.

No one should venture into bear country without being observant. If you see a bear, give him a wideberth. Go ahead and watch him, but from a safe distance with binoculars. When traveling in the grizzlycountry of the western states, western Canada, and Alaska, I would use binoculars to glass thecountryside whenever possible before walking through it.

If the cover is too thick, make a noise as you walk - talk, sing, whistle. Some hikers carry tin cans filledwith pebbles to rattle. Nearly every bear will run if he gets a chance, if he's warned that a human ispresent. When walking in thick cover, as on a forest trail, look at the trail for grizzly tracks. If freshtracks are present, be extra cautious. Both grizzly and black bears have very poor eyesight. Their sensesof smell and hearing are excellent, perhaps better than that of a white-tailed deer or an elk.

Bears nearly always begin their charge with a roar. There is no mistaking their intention. Their lips arefurled and their jaws are wide open. Incidentally, the old trick of playing dead when being mauled by abear seems to work. There are a number of incidents when this has saved the victim's life.The fact that bears can be dangerous should not deter anyone from venturing into bear country. If youexhibit a trace of caution and common sense, you will be in no danger. Walking across the average citystreet presents greater danger than hiking in bear country.

OTHER WILD LIFE

Deer, elk, caribou, moose, wild sheep, mountain goats, bison, cougars, and wolves present no danger.They are all very fearful of man. Cougars and wolves have been known to follow people, but this seemsto be largely due to curiosity. Actual attacks are rare. There are only two or three cougar attacks onrecord. Similarly, there are very few wolf attacks on record and there is a strong probability that theattacking wolves were rabid. Bull moose during the rutting season have been known to chase people, toattack horses, and even to attack automobiles and trains. But such incidents are very rare. Bull moose inrut sometimes do unusual things, but I can recall doing unusual things when I was amorously chasingsome young maiden.

RABIES

The incidence of rabies has increased dramatically in recent years. This may be a cyclic sort ofphenomenon or because the numbers of small carnivorous animals have increased and there is a largerpool for the virus. The reason why we have more coyotes, foxes, skunks, and raccoons is twofold: first,our farmers and agriculture departments have become more enlightened and no longer hire poisoners tokill these creatures and, second, few men earn a living as fur trappers any more. There are easier andmore comfortable ways to earn one's daily bacon and beans.

A rabid animal is a dangerous one. The most common symptom of rabies is unusual behavior; forexample, a fox running toward you rather than away from you or acting sick and stupid. If youencounter such an animal, stay away from it. Keep your kids and dogs away from it. If you have afirearm, shoot the animal, but not through the head. You don't want to damage the brain. A veterinarianwill need a section from the brain to determine if the animal was rabid or just acting strangely withoutany apparent motive.

If anyone is bitten by a wild animal, he should see a doctor immediately. It is even more important thento kill the animal that did the biting, so that it can be diagnosed for rabies. If the doctor cannot learnwhether the animal was rabid, he will have to assume that it was and begin a series of anti-rabiesinjections. If your dogs go with you on outdoor rambles, they should be vaccinated against rabies andreceive proper boosters regularly.

DEQUILLING A DOG

For some reason, many dogs don't like porcupines. Maybe it is because the slow, dull-witted porkyseems helpless. When a dog rushes in to attack he, of course, gets an unpleasant surprise. Embeddedquills are dangerous if not removed soon. They will work into the dog, causing pain, infection, andpossibly even death if they hit vital organs. If you are near a vet, get your dog to him right away. The vetwill anesthetize the dog and remove the quills. If you are on a wilderness trip, you will have to dequillthe dog yourself.

To do this, you will have to have someone hold the dog still or, if a second person is not available, youwill have to tie the dog. The best way to do this is to wrap a jacket or blanket around the dog and tie itwith a rope or belt so that the dog cannot hit you with his feet. Twist out each quill slowly with a pair ofneedle-nosed pliers, starting in the chest area. Remember that the dog will be frightened and in pain, andmay become a fear biter. You may have to use a muzzle or gently tie the dog's mouth closed with ahandkerchief or a piece of rope. When you have taken out the quills, get the dog to the veterinarian assoon as possible so that he can get a shot to prevent any secondary infection.

WILDLIFE ON HIGHWAYS

Big-game animals - mostly deer, but sometimes elk, moose, and even bears - are a very real hazard tomotorists traveling in big-game country. Some years ago I wrote a story on this for one of the motoringmagazines. To document my story, I obtained statistics from states known for their vast deer herds. Myfindings surprised me. In one year, the relatively small state of Pennsylvania alone, reported 22,610automobile collisions with deer. Texas reported 16,145; California, 8517; and Michigan, 7077, just toname a few. The province of Ontario reported 153 collisions with moose and 45 with black bears. Manyof the moose collisions caused human fatalities.

A motorist in big-game country should drive defensively. You never know when a deer may leap out infront of your car. If you see a deer on the side of a road, slow down. Obey all deer-crossing signs. (Theywere put there for a purpose.) A deer may be standing in the middle of the road just around the nextbend. If an animal is on the road at night, turn your headlights off momentarily, leaving on only yourparking lights. The animal may be mesmerized by the beam of light, and the moment of darkness maybe enough for it to jump out of the way.

If a collision seems unavoidable, don't try to swerve to miss the animal. You may go into a spin and losecontrol of the car, hitting something more formidable, such as a rock or a tree. It is best to hit the animalstraight on. If a collision does occur, treat it like any other accident and report it to the police. Even if thedamage to your car is negligible, report the accident to a conservation officer. If the animal is seriouslyinjured, he will want to track it down to prevent further suffering. He may be able to salvage some of themeat for a charitable institution. He may also want to take biological data from the animal.

Above all, don't go near the stricken animal. Wounded deer have been known to lash out with theirhoofs and cause injuries. Wounded moose or bears are even more dangerous. Let a police officer or aconservation officer deal with the animal.

SNAKES

Snakes have been feared, vilified, and venerated by man from time immemorial. Generally westernculture has been anti-snake. And even today there are still ignorant people around who kill every snakeon sight. But we are slowly becoming more enlightened and are starting to realize that snakes are aninteresting group of animals.

Of the two-hundred-plus species of snakes found in the United States and Canada, only a few arepoisonous. Many species, even the poisonous ones, are very beneficial in controlling populations ofsmall rodents. However, there is no question that care should be exercised by anyone venturing into theout-of-doors in country where poisonous snakes are common. The outdoorsman should not only be ableto recognize poisonous snakes, but should know the type of habitat that they prefer, the precautions to betaken against being bitten, and what to do in case of a snake bite.

There are two families of terrestrial poisonous snakes on this continent - the coral snakes and the pitvipers. The latter group includes the rattlesnakes, the cottonmouth, and the copperhead.

The Coral Snakes

The eastern coral snake is found from the Carolinas to central Texas. It is twenty to thirty-inches longand has bands of red, yellow, and black along its body. The key identifying feature of this snake is thatthe red and yellow rings touch each other. There are a number of harmless snakes that also have brightlycolored bands, but in these species the red and yellow rings are separated by a black band and the redand yellow rings do not touch.

The eastern coral snake is a secretive creature. It is rarely seen in broad daylight. It preys on frogs,lizards, and other snakes. The venom of this snake is highly lethal and can be treated only with anti-venom and medical care.

There are a number of subspecies or races of the coral snake, such as the Texas coral snake and theArizona coral snake. All of the coral snakes have a small mouth and short fangs. For this reason theycannot bite through clothing and sturdy footwear easily. However, naked toes and fingers are vulnerable.

The Pit Vipers

The members of the pit viper family are characterized by deep facial pits on each side of the head, a littleless than midway between the eye and the nostril. The mouths of these snakes have large, hollow fangsmounted on short maxillary bones. When the mouth is closed, the fangs are folded against the roof of themouth. The fangs rotate into an erect position only when the snake opens its mouth. The heads of mostpit vipers are triangular in shape.

The copperhead is a fairly large snake, generally running between twenty-four and thirty-six inches inlength. It has a coppery-red head with an hourglass pattern, hence its name. Its back and sides arecovered with chestnut markings that are narrow at the top of the back and wide on the sides. Dark,rounded spots mark the belly.There are several races of copperheads. The markings of these races vary slightly in detail and color.

Copperheads are found from Massachusetts south to Florida and from southern Illinois and Iowa toTexas. They live in a fairly wide range of habitats from rocky, wooded hillsides to low ground nearswamps. Small rodents are their chief prey, but frogs are also eaten.

A great many snakes such as the milk snake, the fox snake, the hog snake, and the water snake are killedannually because they are mistaken for the copperhead. Although a fair number of people are bitten bycopperheads, deaths are virtually nonexistent. The copperhead is not a serious threat to life.

The cottonmouth is a close relative of the copperhead. It is an even larger snake thirty to forty-eightinches - and is almost entirely aquatic. It is olive brown or almost black in color when viewed fromabove. It has dark crossbands on its back and a light belly. The inside of the mouth is white, hence thename cottonmouth.

The cottonmouths are found from Virginia to Key West, west to Oklahoma and central Texas. Thecottonmouth is basically an aquatic snake, living in swamps, lakes, rivers, and rice fields. It likes to sunitself on rocks and floating logs. On occasion, it may invade the uplands and be found hibernating withcopperheads. Fish, frogs, salamanders, and even other snakes are the chief prey of the cottonmouth, butthis snake is an opportunist and will eat anything that it can handle.

The cottonmouth is much more dangerous than the copperhead. It is a bigger snake, hence it is likely toinject more venom when it strikes. When excited, the cottonmouth will vibrate its tail. When fullyaroused, it will throw its head backwards and open its jaws. The cottonmouth is aggressive. The splashof a paddle will frighten most other snakes away, but the cottonmouth is likely to stand its ground. Bassfishermen and hunters entering the southern swamps should learn to identify the cottonmouth at aglance. Again, many other water snakes are killed through ignorance because they are mistaken for thecottonmouth.

There are about a dozen species of rattlesnakes varying in size from fifteen to seventy-two inches. Theyrange from New Hampshire, southern Ontario, and southern Saskatchewan southward right to the Gulfcoast and into Mexico, and from New Jersey to California. As a group, the rattlesnakes live in a varietyof habitats from rocky forests, to wet bottomlands and marshes, to deserts and grasslands. The hallmarkof these snakes is, of course, the rattle on the tip of their tails. The rattle consists of loosely attachedsegments which strike against each other when the tail is vibrated. The rattle is best described as abuzzing noise, somewhat similar to that made by cicadas. The larger species produce the loudest noises.Generally rattlesnakes rattle only when angry or aroused - as a warning, but don't count on this. In coolweather the snake may be too lethargic to vibrate its tail. Certainly every outdoorsman should learn torecognize the rattle of a rattlesnake, as well as the snakes themselves.

The best way to learn to identify the rattlesnake - in fact, snakes of all kinds - is from exhibits ofmounted specimens in museums or from live specimens in zoos and snake exhibits. Field guides toreptiles and amphibians are also useful.By and large, the larger rattlesnakes - the diamondback and the timber rattlesnake - are more dangerousthan the smaller species. Although all rattlesnakes, if given a chance, will try to escape, the larger onesare less apt to do so. When aroused, they will face the intruder and rattle vigorously. Unfortunately thediamondback and the timber rattlers live in country frequented by many fishermen, hikers, and campers.

There is no reason why anyone should ever be afraid of venturing out-of-doors into country wherepoisonous snakes are known to live. Snake bites are actually a very rare occurrence when compared tothe host of other accidents that can befall an outdoorsman. We are many thousand times more likely tobe killed driving to our favorite camping area or trout stream than we are to be bitten by a poisonoussnake. Snake bites are rarely fatal; less than two people in every thousand that are bitten die.

Yet everyone traveling through country where poisonous snakes are known to be abundant shouldexhibit a bit of caution. Being observant is the first line of defense. Wearing good, sound, leather bootsis another. The upland bird hunter can even obtain snake leggings made of aluminum mesh. If you arerockhounding or climbing in snake country, watch where you put your hands and what you grab. Thesame goes if you are picking berries or mushrooms. Use tools to overturn rocks and logs. Learn torecognize the buzzing rattle of a rattlesnake and even the billygoat odor that an aroused rattlersometimes emits.

I don't believe in killing any poisonous snake just because it is poisonous. In my opinion, the only time aman has the right to kill something is when he intends to eat it or when his life (and possibly hisproperty) is being threatened or attacked. I have traveled through parts of the world where venomoussnakes were abundant, and I have never been confronted or threatened by one. But if a rattlesnakesuddenly crawled onto my back lawn and I had no way of disposing of it alive, I would kill it. Thiswould also apply to a poisonous snake on a public campground where young children were playing.

TREATING A SNAKE BITE

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the treatment of snake bites. In the past, the recommendedprocedure was to apply a tourniquet, make an incision around the bite, and suck the fluids from thewound. This has generally been discredited by the medical profession because in many cases thistreatment has been known to cause much harm. However, there are other things that can be done.Obviously the victim should be taken to a hospital as quickly as is feasible. If possible, the victim shouldbe carried to a vehicle. If the victim has to move on his own, he should do so by walking slowly. Thevictim should be kept calm. No alcohol or other stimulants should be consumed by him. In short,everything possible should be done to keep his heartbeat normal.

If the bite is on the extremities, a tourniquet may help to keep the venom contained. Be sure not to havethe tourniquet too tight and to loosen it every few minutes. You must not stop all circulation. Keep thebitten extremity lower to the ground than the heart. This will slow the movement of venom to the heart.

The use of ice as a cold pack in treating snake bite is also very controversial. It has been known to causetissue damage and other problems. If ice has any beneficial role to play, it is only during the first hour orso after the bite.

Injections of anti-venom are the usual way of treating snake bite. Antivenom, or AV as it is usuallycalled, is a horse serum. Its misuse can be fatal. Generally it should be injected by a physician. It isavailable only on prescription. People who spend much time in country where poisonous snakes areabundant may wish to consult their family doctor about prescribing an AV kit so that they have it withthem in case of emergency. AV is not always available in small hospitals. Many doctors may bereluctant to issue prescriptions because the AV kit comes with a syringe which has a needle about one-and-a-half inches long. It takes a fair amount of expertise to use such a needle. The needle is alwaysinjected into a thick muscle mass such as the buttocks or thigh. There is a further danger in the use ofAV with people who cannot tolerate horse serum.

One thing is certain about snake bite. People in good physical condition are less apt to die or haveserious problems than people who are soft and out of shape. Also, physically larger people tend to havean easier time. Children are more susceptible because they tend to panic and they are small.

OTHER REPTILES

There are two poisonous lizards in the world, and both are found in the southwest - the gila monster andthe Mexican beaded lizard. Again, the bite of these lizards is seldom fatal. Indeed, people are seldombitten by them. There are only little more than thirty recorded instances of bites to people. The Spanishexplorer Francisco Hernandez recorded, back in 1577, that the bite was painful but not fatal.

There are a few other reptiles that one should be cautious of. The American alligator and Americancrocodile are two obvious ones, but they are seldom encountered in the wild except in the coastalregions of Louisiana and wilderness areas of Florida. Neither of these large reptiles has the dangerousreputation of some of the African species. The snapping turtle can inflict a painful bite, but does so onlywhen someone annoys it on land. In water, the turtle makes every effort to get away. Some of the largerwater snakes will bite if handled carelessly. The bites of these snakes are not poisonous, but in somecases they have been known to cause nausea.

The best precaution against wildlife hazards is to watch all wildlife with interest but at a safe distance.There is no reason why anyone should cause intentional stress to a wild creature by approaching itclosely just to satisfy his idle curiosity.

Chapter 4Beating the Bugs

One of the biggest annoyances in the out-of-doors is biting and stinging insects. Indeed, some of theseinsect stings can be dangerous to hypersensitive individuals. But there are ways that biting insects can bebeaten, or at least their bites kept to a minimum. Let's discuss the potentially dangerous insects first.WASPS, HORNETS, AND BEES

Wasps, yellowjackets, bumblebees, and honeybees all carry venom that, on an equal volume basis, is asdangerous as the venom of a rattlesnake. Obviously these insects inject only minuscule doses of thispoison at a time, but the venom is known to have an accumulative effect. The first few stings may bringon only normal symptoms of pain and slight swelling in the area of the injection. However, after severalstings, the reaction may worsen and bring on a variety of serious symptoms including death. Morepeople die annually in North America as a result of being stung by hornets, wasps, and other stinginginsects than as a result of snake bites.

Precautionary measures are the first defense. Don't disturb these insects or their nests. Wear neutral-colored clothing such as offwhites, tans, and greens; bright colors attract them, and bees actually seem tobe angered by black. Don't use sweet or strong-smelling perfumes and after-shave lotions. These alsoappear to attract bees, wasps, and hornets. Keep food, particularly sweet things, covered at all times.After your meal, don't leave such food on picnic tables.Put it away in your tent or cooler. Don't putwildflowers on picnic tables. Wear shoes; yellowjackets live in the ground.>>

Bee stings, surprisingly enough, cause more deaths than wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets combined.The reason no doubt is due to their great numbers. Most people are stung by bees at home in their owngarden or back yard, rather than in the wilds.

Wasps, hornets and yellowjackets are dangerous because frequently they attack in swarms. A singlewasp nest may hold 10,000 insects. For some reason youngsters like to throw rocks and sticks at suchnests. This is one sure way of inviting trouble. Bumblebees rarely sting.

What should you do if you get stung? Well, there are several things you can do. If you have been stungby a bee, the stinger will still be in the wound. A bee can sting only once because its stinger has barbsthat embed it in the wound. The bee will tear the stinger from its body when it flies off, and it will diemoments later. So first you must remove the stinger from the wound as fast as you can. The longer thestinger remains, the more venom the poison sac will release into the wound through its hollow needle.Don't pick the stinger off, because by grasping the top end where the poison sac is, you will inject morevenom into the wound. Instead, scrape it off with a knife blade, a wooden match, or even a fingernail.Now, as fast as you can, apply ice from your ice chest to the wound. This will slow down the spreadingof the poison. Keep away from heat. Mud applications have been recommended for stings in the past,but forget it unless the mud is ice cold. Ammonia is equally useless.

Hornet and wasp stings will not leave a stinger in the wound. These insects can inflict more than onesting at a time. The treatment is the same as for bee stings except, of course, there is no stinger toremove. Medical attention should be sought immediately if multiple stings have been received or ifhypersensitivity to such stings is suspected or known.

Anyone who suffers badly from asthma or hayfever or has a strong reaction when stung by commoninsects such as mosquitos, horseflies, and deerflies, should treat wasp, hornet and bee stings withextreme caution.

There are special first-aid kits on the market for people who are hypersensitive to the stings of bees,wasps, hornets, and the like. Generally these are available only with a doctor's prescription. If you or oneof your family is hypersensitive, you should 'consult your family doctor about having this type of kitwith you at home and on outdoor rambles.

These kits contain pills, sterile alcohol pads, a tourniquet, and a hypodermic syringe with 0.3 ml ofEpinephrine, plus an instruction folder. The medication in the syringe serves to slow down the poison'sreaction until the pills begin to work.

SCORPIONS AND SPIDERS

The black widow spider and the scorpion are two other insects that an outdoorsman may, on rareoccasions, encounter. Bites from both of these insects are dangerous, but only rarely lethal.

Generally black widow spiders are found in rubbish heaps and old ramshackle buildings. If you are fondof visiting old ghost towns, abandoned mines, and other similar spots, you should exercise a bit ofcaution.

Scorpions are nocturnal insects. They spend their days under rocks, brush piles, and leaves. The onlyreal hazard is that they may choose some shaded spot in camp, such as a rubber mattress, under which tohide as dawn approaches. If you are traveling in scorpion country, it is wise to exhibit a bit of caution byshaking out your boots and checking over your sleeping bag before using them.

A bite from a scorpion or a black widow may cause swelling, pain, nausea, fever, and even speech andbreathing difficulties. Obviously the more allergic the person is to these venoms, the more drastic is thereaction. Children are more susceptible than adults, but as I said earlier, death due to black widow orscorpion bites occurs rarely and then only in extreme cases. Anyone bitten by these insects should betaken to a doctor immediately. First aid should consist of an application of an ice pack, ice water, orsimply a chunk of ice to the bitten area. If the bite is on a foot or a hand, a tourniquet can be used. Thetourniquet must be applied with extreme care. Never tie the tourniquet too tightly and be sure to releaseit every few minutes. The bitten person should be kept calm. The heart beat and pulse of an excitedperson are much faster than normal, hence the venom spreads much more quickly. The bitten personshould not walk more than necessary. Remember, exercise also quickens heart beat and pulse.

MOSQUITOS AND BLACKFLIES

Mosquitos and blackflies are two of the most common pests that an outdoorsman has to endure. Usuallythey are worse during early to midspring but, in some areas such as the Arctic, they can be troublesomeduring the entire summer.

Fortunately both of these insects are easy to combat. Proper clothing is the first and best line of defense.Clothes should be loose on the body and of fairly tightly woven material. With such clothes, themosquito's mouth parts cannot penetrate to the bare skin. Clothing should be light in color; off-whitesand light khakis are much less attractive to blackflies and mosquitos than darker colors. Blackflies inparticular are attracted to dark colors. In very bad blackfly country, the pantlegs and cuffs of shirtsleeves should be tied around the ankle and wrist or, in the case of pantlegs, tucked into boots, so thatthe insects cannot get inside clothing.

Insect repellents are the second and excellent form of defense. There are a vast number of these on themarket, but the best by far that I have ever tested is Cutter's. Most insect repellents can be obtained inaerosol sprays, oils, jellies, and sticks. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Aerosol spraysare good because they can be sprayed over clothing. Oils and jellies stay on the skin much longer, givingbetter protection and they are less easily washed off by. sweat.

In areas where mosquitos and blackflies are very troublesome, a mosquito head net and even a pair ofcotton gloves are good means of protection. These are particularly good if you are doing something likewildlife photography where you cannot move about or swat at insects without alarming your subjects.Then dark gloves and a head net also serve as camouflage for your white face and hands.

Smoke, both from a fire and a pipe, is a good defensive or offensive weapon against both blackflies andmosquitos. Smoke is just about the only thing the Indians had, and don't think that Indians weren'ttroubled by these bugs. They were and are, but they also had a philosophical attitude that these insectswere unavoidable and they had to put up with them. Clouds of blackflies did not excite them norfrighten them - as much as they do some white men. However, I have observed that many of the youngerIndians in the northern bush are reacting to mosquitos and blackflies as badly as some white men. Ourrace is not the only one whose children have gone soft.

Another good defense against blackflies and mosquitos is wind. When walking, stick to high ridges,open fields, and lake shores where the wind is stronger. Make your campsite on breezy islands, openridges, and points. Your tent should have a good fly screen and a sewn-in floor.

Blackflies breed in running water. That is why they are more troublesome in the spring when the run-offis strong. Once the upland rills have dried up, blackflies decline in numbers very sharply. If you are outduring blackfly season, it is a good idea to make your camp away from running water, away from the flysource. On the other hand, mosquitos breed in stagnant water. Once such pools and ponds dry up,mosquitos also decline in number. Again, you can minimize the effect of these insects by making campas far away as possible from their breeding habitat. With mosquitos, it is the female that causes theproblem. The male is strictly a vegetarian; the female needs a blood meal - protein for the developmentof eggs.

HORSEFLIES AND DEERFLIES

Deerflies and horseflies are two very aggressive insects. They will follow and attack incessantly. Loose,tightly woven clothing is the best defense. Insect repellents help, but they are not as effective againstmosquitos and blackflies. A head net is very effective where these two insects are most troublesome, butgenerally the peak deerfly and horsefly season is in the summer when hot weather makes a head neteven more uncomfortable than deerfly or horsefly bites.

Both of these insects are most common in areas where cattle and horses are abundant or in good big-game country. The more deer, elk, or moose in an area, the more deerflies and horseflies. If you arerambling about in big game country hoping to see, photograph, or bag a deer, elk, or moose, you willhave to put up with these flies during the summer and early fall.

CHIGGERS AND ITCH MITES

Chiggers are almost microscopic. One of these little red devils is about 1/200 (.005) of an inch long.They live on vegetation brush and tall grass and are picked up on your clothing as you walk by. Oncethey hitch a ride on a human, they crawl into the warm areas - under the armpits, under the wristwatchstrap, and into the groin.

The itch mite is about the same size as the chigger and is white or pale yellow in color. The femaleburrows under the skin and lays eggs. As it burrows, it feeds on the tissue and releases a toxin thatdissolves tissues and causes swelling and itching.

If you are traveling in chigger and itch mite country, keep away from stands of thick, lush vegetationwhenever possible. Keeping pantlegs inside boots may also help. Dusting ankles, wrists, necklines, andother exposed areas with powdered sulphur is a good bet if chiggers or itch mites are really bad. In theevenings, if at all possible, take hot, soapy baths or a shower. Water will wash chiggers and itch mitesoff. There are also ointments on the market that kill both of these insects. Drugstores in chigger and itchmite country generally stock these ointments.

TICKS

Ticks are very common insect pests. They live by sucking blood. They can also transmit a diseaseknown as spotted fever, but this disease is not at all prevalent. Most ticks are brown or green in colorand are about one quarter of an inch long - before they gorge themselves with blood. Bloodfilled ticksmay be several times the length of ticks that have not fed.

Ticks are picked up off vegetation and, like chiggers, they crawl to some area of bare skin. Here theybite painlessly through the skin and bury their heads in. A favorite area for ticks on humans is the backof the neck along the hairline or the back of the ears. When traveling in known tick country, check yourclothing carefully and your body every night. Insect repellent sprayed on clothing acts as a deterrent tosome extent.

Exercise great care when removing ticks to insure that you do not simply tear off the body and leave theinsect's head or mouth parts under the skin where they may fester. Ticks may be removed with tweezersin one hand and a pin or needle in the other. The pin or needle is used to pry the mouth loose. A slowerand safer way to remove ticks is to coat the insect heavily with a greasy lotion vaseline or moltenparaffin. These materials shut off the air supply from the insect and eventually force it to let go. Burningthe insect with a cigarette is also effective and it can then be picked off with tweezers. Dabbing theinsect with rubbing alcohol will generally also make it let go.

One last tip about ticks. Dogs are very susceptible to them. If you are out with your dog in tick country,examine the animal very carefully every evening.

CATERPILLARS

There are a number of caterpillars - the puss caterpillar, the hag-moth caterpillar, and the saddlebackcaterpillar - that have irritating secretions in their hairs. These secretions can cause itching and nasty,painful blisters. If you cannot recognize the different species of caterpillars, don't touch any of them -just look.

COPING WITH ITCHING BITES

The bites of blackflies, sandflies, mosquitos, itch mites, and chiggers all itch. The severity of the itchingdepends on the sensitivity of the individual bitten and, of course, on the extent of the bites. Swelling isusual, particularly from mosquito and itch mite bites. Scratching the bites can cause a secondaryinfection to develop and it, of course, makes the itching worse.

Use ice to alleviate the swelling. A mixture of baking soda and water in a thick paste will help toalleviate itching. Calamine lotion is helpful and should be included among items to take when venturinginto bug country. The commercial preparation Absorbine Jr. is also good for treating mosquito bites thatitch and have swollen.[[CHAPTER 5 ?]]There are a number of members of the plant world that are poisonous to man in one form or another. Thechapter on wilderness survival delves a little into plants that are poisonous to eat. This chapter deals withplants that most commonly produce an adverse reaction when touched - poison ivy, poison sumac, andpoison oak. At one time or another most outdoorsmen come across one or all of these plants. However,some people react to them much more severely than others. Some people don't react at all.

All of these plants produce toxic chemical agents that can cause anything from mild itching to severeblistering when they come in contact with skin. For sensitive people, only a small amount of the toxicmaterial is needed to produce a severe reaction. Most commonly people come in contact with the toxinsof these plants by walking through a patch or rubbing against poisonous climbing plants on trees andfences. However, there are other ways in which the toxin can be transferred. Often dogs pick up thetoxin on their coats and transfer it to persons who touch them. Insects pick up the poison on their feetand then land on exposed hands or arms. Hikers pick it up on their boots and pantlegs and then touch itwith bare hands when removing their clothing.

The chemical that causes all the misery is a phenol found in the sap of the plant. This is why it is muchmore prevalent during the spring and early summer (the growing season) than during the fall or winter.

The best method of dealing with poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak is to learn to recognize theplants and to avoid contact with them.

POISON IVY

Poison ivy is by far the most common troublemaker. Commonly it grows in thickets, open woods, sandyor rocky places, and on fence rows through most of the United States except in some very arid regions. Itis fairly abundant in southern Quebec, Ontario, the Great Lakes region, and the mid-west. It is notknown to grow above the tree line.

Poison ivy is a twining, climbing vine that is almost shrub-like in appearance, but it can also supportitself by aerial roots on the trunks of trees and on fences, or it can be found in partially shaded woodlotsamong low growing plants such as ferns.

Poison ivy has one easily recognizable characteristic - its compound leaf consisting of three leaflets.These leaflets are a bright, glossy green, oval-shaped, and smoothly textured. They are clusteredtogether and have sharply tipped points and widely serrated edges.

The flowers of poison ivy, present in the spring and early summer, are borne in clusters and are smalland inconspicuous. The flowers are dainty, and vary in color from greenish white to cream. Closeknitclusters of berries, also greenish white or cream, develop from these flowers, and become hard and waxywhen mature. These berries persist through the winter and are a favorite and harmless food for manyspecies of birds. Not all poison ivy plants have berries.

Such plants as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac have toxic oils which can cause symptomsranging from mild itching to severe skin blisters. Learn to recognize these plants.

POISON SUMAC

Poison sumac is a coarse shrub or a small tree generally ranging from four to twenty feet in height. Italso has compound leaves, but the number of leaflets ranges from seven to thirteen. These leaflets occuropposite each other on the branch, and have one terminal leaflet at the end of the branch. Poison sumacprefers wet, boggy, acid soils and thus generally occurs in wooded swamps. Its range extends throughmost of the south and southeastern United States, along the east coast into New England, through NewYork, the Great Lakes, and the mid-western states, and through southwestern Quebec and southernOntario.

Poison sumac flowers are similar to those of poison ivy, but they grow in hanging clusters and originatein the axils of leaves. Poison sumac fruits are shiny, ivory-colored berries that hang in loose and droopybunches. These bunches may be as long as a foot. The berries persist throughout winter and provide foodfor many bird species.POISON OAK

Poison oak is quite similar to poison ivy in appearance, but its leaves are thicker and smaller in size, andthe ends of the leaves are rounded rather than pointed. Generally poison oak has the same triple-leafletformation, but occasionally five leaflets are produced. The outline of the poison oak leaflet somewhatresembles the leaf of the white oak, hence its name.

POISON OAK

Poison oak prefers dry barrens, pine lands, and sands, and is most prevalent in the coastal regions. Alongthe Atlantic coast it favors poor sandy soils and flourishes in the company of scrub oak and pine. Poisonoak was one of the plants most feared by the Cherokee Indians.

Poisoning from any of these plants may result any time after contact, from a few hours to a few days.The most common signs of contamination are itching and inflammation of the skin, followed by theemergence of watery blisters. However, the poison will not spread from a broken blister - the persistentdevelopment of new patches of itching and inflammation means that the toxin is being spread fromcontaminated clothing or from contact with more plants.

The effects of these poisonous plants are very severe on some persons, sometimes requiringhospitalization. If you suspect that you have been in contact with any of these plants, the best procedureis to lather copiously with a good, strong, yellow laundry soap, rinse thoroughly, and then repeat theprocedure again. If, after this, itching and inflammation still develop, the wisest procedure is to visit afamily physician. A one-percent solution of potassium permanganate swabbed over the infected area isknown to give some relief from the itching. The brown stains produced from this material can beremoved with lemon juice. Certain iron salts have also been used for the relief of itching, particularlyferric chloride. This material is mixed with a quarter glycerin, a quarter alcohol, and half water, and isswabbed on the affected spots, but it stains as well. Calamine lotion sometimes affords relief from minoritching.

STINGING NETTLE

There are a few other plants besides the above that can be troublesome to the outdoorsman. Among themare the stinging or spurge nettles. The stinging nettle is the more common of the two. The stinging nettleis a bushy looking plant with leaves that are very coarsely toothed and stiff bristles that "sting" oncontact. The plants run from six to thirty inches in height, and are found in waste places. sand hills, roadsides, and so on from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and through portions of the mid-western UnitedStates east to northeastern Virginia. Again, the best way of dealing with stinging nettle is to learn torecognize and avoid it.

CHAPTER 6MAP AND COMPASSNo one should venture into the wilderness without a compass, not even if his only intention is to go overthe ridge to pick blueberries. Most outdoor recreationists today are urban dwellers. Often theirknowledge about the country into which they are venturing is skimpy. Many campers and fishermen setoff on trips into the wilderness or go for a walk from their camp without really knowing how to readlandmarks. Many don't even carry a compass and, of those who do, many don't know how to use it. It isno surprise to me that newspapers and newscasts regularly carry reports of lost hikers, campers, andhunters.

Knowing how to use a compass is a must for anyone who calls himself an outdoorsman. It is one of theprimary outdoor skills, like using an ax. Experienced woodsmen, trappers, and such rarely rely on acompass to find their way. But generally they have an uncanny sense of direction. This sense is based onmany things, including the lay of the land and the ability to see and absorb inconspicuous landmarks andit comes as a result of many years in the bush.

Most of us are not that fortunate. For example, it is difficult to completely lose a sense of direction on asunny day. But an overcast day is something else. With no sun to guide us, we can get mixed up veryeasily. A compass will give the right direction every time.

A compass is a simple device. It is a steel needle, magnetized so that one end will always point to theearth's magnetic pole which lies a thousand miles south of the true North Pole and a little west of thehundred-degree meridian. Some compasses use a magnetized disc rather than a needle.

CHOOSING A COMPASS

Although compasses can be used for navigation and survey work, the outdoorsman's basic interest lies inkeeping on a straight course to some distant point and then coming back again. For this, a small hand-held compass with a swing needle or a disc is adequate. Such compasses come in many styles. The moresophisticated ones have needles that float in oil to dampen their swinging and have sights for takingheadings. Others have levers which allow the needle to be taken off the pivot when the compass is notbeing used. I think that the very simple compasses are not wise choices for the serious outdoorsman.They are frequently chosen because they are small and inexpensive. A good compass, such as the Sylvaand others in its class, can be used for fairly sophisticated work. These are sturdy and dependable. Forapproximately $15 to $20, they are a good life insurance policy.

All magnetic compasses react to iron and steel, and other magnets, including other compasses. If you arecarrying something made of iron - a rifle, a knife, or a belt buckle - it can throw the needle off. A simpletest can be conducted to check for this. Simply place the compass on a low stump and walk away a fewsteps, giving the needle time to come to a full stop. As you turn, watch the needle to see if it swingstowards you as you approach. If it does, you must find out what is causing the needle to deviate and getrid of it whenever you take a compass reading.

USING MAP AND COMPASS

Since the compass needle points to the magnetic pole, you must compensate for the difference betweenthe positions of the true North Pole and the magnetic north. This difference is called declination and itvaries from nearly zero degrees to twenty-five degrees east or west depending on what part of thecontinent the reading is being taken from. The near zero degrees applies if the reading is taken when themagnetic north and the true north are in line. However, the only time declination is of concern is whenyou are trying to follow a map that has both magnetic-variance lines and grid lines based on the truenorth. Declination needs to be known for navigation. Both Geodetic Survey and U.S. Coast maps showmagnetic variance as dotted lines and grid lines as solid lines. Declination is always given in degreeseast and west. But more about this later.

The elementary way of using a compass is as a direction finder.

No one should venture into a wilderness area without a map, a good compass, and a knowledge of howto use both.

To do this, you must simply wait until the needle stops, turn the dial until the north arrow and the needleare aligned, and then use whatever bearing will bring you to your destination. In such elementarycompassing, declination is ignored. However, this technique works well only when short distances areinvolved or when the objective is large such as a road or a river and you don't care where you hit it. Avariation of this technique can also be used to reach an objective that is visible only at times. In this caseyou simply take a compass heading and use it whenever you lose sight of the objective.

However, for more sophisticated compassing such as hitting a bay on a small lake many miles away, amap is needed on which the location of the camp is pinpointed. The technique here depends on the typeof compass.

Determining a course with a simple compass:

1. Draw a line from your starting point to the objective.

2. If the map has no north-south line running across your intended line of travel, then draw one byjoining two points of the same longitude.

3. Place a protractor along the north-south line with the center point at the junction of your path of traveland the north-south line.

4. Read the bearing of the path of travel in degrees at the outer margin of the protractor. Let us say that itis eighty degrees.

5. Now you must convert the map's true north bearing to a magnetic north bearing by applying thedeclination shown on the map. Let us assume that the declination is ten degrees E. Then the bearing youhave to follow to reach your objective is seventy degrees E the declination (ten degrees E) minus thereading of your path of travel as shown by the protractor (eighty degrees).

Determining a course with a Sylva or other good quality compass:

1. Place your map on a flat, level surface. If you wish, you can draw a line from the objective to thestarting point, but this is not necessary.

2. Align the transparent plate of your compass along the path of travel so that the line of sight is pointingin that direction.

3. Turn the compass until the lines on the housing are parallel to the north-south lines on the map. If themap does not have north-south lines, you will have to draw one crossing your path of travel. The northarrow on the housing will now be pointing to true north.

4. Turn the compass housing the number of degrees of declination marked on the map. (If thedeclination is east, this means a clockwise turn; if the declination is west, an anti-clockwise turn.) Theindex pointer now reads the magnetic bearing of the path of travel.

5. To travel the line of direction required, turn the whole compass without moving the housing so thatthe north end of the needle points over the north end of the engraved arrow. The course to travel will bethe line of sight or the direction of the sides of the transparent plate.

Occasionally someone gets lost in spite of having a compass and knowing how to use it, usually becausethe traveler lacked confidence in the compass. He "knew" that the compass was wrong and that his senseof direction was right. Compasses seldom lie. They may be affected by something outside the magneticinfluence, but that's up to the compassman to discover ahead of time. The compassman may also makemistakes. If he reads the headings incorrectly, he cannot blame the compass for getting him lost.

Learning how to use a compass can be great fun. The way to start is in territory that you know. If youcan follow bearings with good accuracy in familiar country, you are ready for the wilderness.

No one should go into an unfamiliar wilderness area without a good map. For canoe tripping, a map witha scale of two miles to one inch is fine. For hiking, a map with a larger scale is better, preferably onewith contour lines. Familiarize yourself with the map first. Look at the topographical features that youwill encounter along your route or path of travel. Learn the legend. To protect your map from moisture,cover it with clear, selfadhesive plastic sheeting or spray it with a clear plastic spray. There are alsoplastic map cases available which allow the map to be folded so that the sections that are in use arevisible. These are a good idea on any trip.

WILDERNESS MAPS

Topographical maps can be a tremendous asset to any outdoorsman. A topo map is different from a roadmap because it shows the features of the land - the topography. Also, it shows the type of vegetation, oldlogging roads, foot trails, cabins, mining and lumber camps, power lines, streams, swamps, and springs.By studying a topo map, an outdoorsman can get a good picture of what an area looks like and what hecan expect to find there.

Of all the millions of words that have been written giving advice to outdoorsmen on virtually every formof outdoor recreation, surprisingly little has been said about the usefulness of topographical maps. Iwould no more dream of going on a wilderness trip of any sort - fishing, hunting, backpacking,canoeing, ski touring, or snow mobiling - without a topographical map of the area, than I would of goingwithout an ax. The topographical map will not only show me landmarks, help me with navigation, andtell me what kind of terrain lies ahead, but it will give me an idea of the type of wildlife and fish habitatsI might encounter. Marshes may hold waterfowl. Small, spring-fed mountain streams and ponds mayhave trout. The marshy lakes of northern Canada are ideal places to look for moose during summer andearly fall because moose like to feed on aquatic vegetation. The list of possibilities is endless.

Even in settled farm country, topographical maps are of immense value. I have used them to locate tinyhidden trout streams, small marshes where other waterfowlers are seldom encountered, likely lookingwoodcock covers along streams, and moist swales, and high hardwood ridges with interestingsnowshoeing and ski touring possibilities. By using the topo maps first and scouting the area, I am ableto get away from the hordes of other outdoorsmen by finding little pockets of woodlands tucked awayout of sight from roads.

The key to using a topographical map lies in learning the symbols and codes. They tell the story of whatactually lies on the ground. Generally the maps cover one quadrangle, one-quarter degree of latitude andlongitude. The scale of the map can vary, but the larger the scale, the more detail the map shows and themore valuable it is. The most useful scale is a seven-and-ahalf-minute quadrangle series. On this scale,one inch on the map represents about two thousand feet on the ground.

Topographical maps in the United States can be obtained from the Map Information Office, U.S.Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. 20244, for states east of the Mississippi. Maps of states west ofthe Mississippi can be obtained from the Map Information Office, U.S. Geological Survey, FederalCenter, Denver, Colorado 80225. In Canada, topo maps can be obtained from the Map DistributionOffice, Department of Mines and Technical Service, Ottawa, Ontario.

First you will need an index sheet for the state or province you are interested in, telling what maps areavailable. With this index, you will get instructions as to how to order individual maps. You can thenselect the maps for the area you want and order them. Topographical maps are quite inexpensive.

Topographical maps for national parks can be purchased overthe-counter at all park headquarters. It isalso possible to purchase topographical maps of national forests in the United States at the U.S. ForestService Regional Center in Atlanta, Georgia; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Albuquerque, New Mexico;Denver, Colorado; Ogden, Utah; Missoula, Montana; San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; andJuneau, Alaska.One last tip. When maps are requested by mail, you should allow about four weeks for delivery, so planyour trip early and order your maps well ahead of time.

CHAPTER 7OPTICS FOR THE OUTDOORSMAN

If someone were to ask me what piece of outdoor equipment gives me the greatest pleasure, I wouldhave no difficulty in answering binoculars. Aside from my knives, binoculars are the only piece ofequipment I use year around. Canoes, tents, snowshoes, fishing rods, shotguns, and rifles all haveseasonal uses, but not binoculars. I generally carry a pair of binoculars, or at least have a pair handy, onalmost every outdoor ramble.

When the fishing has hit the doldrums, binoculars have never failed to provide me with entertainment. Ihave watched ospreys fishing, beavers repairing their dams, and minks hunting for a meal along alakeshore. In the blue bird days of fall, I have pleasantly idled away many hours in a duck blindwatching marsh birds and other creatures. And more than a little of my reputation as a big-game hunteris the result of using binoculars. On a big-game hunt, I consider binoculars to be much more beneficialthan the 'scope on my rifle. As a bird watcher and a wildlife photographer, I have found them to beindispensable.

Curiously enough, binoculars do not actually extend your range of vision beyond what you can see withthe naked eye. In other words, they don't help you see farther. What they do is make distant objects lookmore detailed, larger, and clearer. They do this not only by magnifying, but also by gathering andtransmitting light through the lenses and prisms to the eye.

BINOCULAR SAVVY

Magnification The magnification is one of the principal considerations in selecting binoculars. There is atendency among inexperienced outdoorsmen to select binoculars with high magnificafion. The theory isthat if it is higher in power, it has to be better. This is wrong. Binoculars of high power are difficult tohold steady; the tremors of your hand are magnified in proportion to the magnification of the binoculars.

Binoculars of a moderate power - 7X or 8X - are the best allaround choice. Although binoculars can behad with 16X or 20X magnification, these require tripods for satisfactory use. About the highestpractical magnification for an outdoorsman is 10X.

Brightness The relative brightness or the "ability to gather light" is another important feature to considerin binoculars. Although magnification plays a part in this, a bigger role is played by the diameter of theobjective lens. Generally speaking, the wider the objective lens, the greater the relative brightness.However, magnification can negate the relative brightness. For example, binoculars of the specifications10X50 and 7X50 have the same diameter-objective lens, but the 7X50 have higher relative brightness.Binoculars with very wide objective lenses are generally bulky and heavy and should not be selectedwhere compactness and weight are important factors.Field of View The field of view is the width or diameter of the circular view that you see through thebinoculars. It is always measured at a thousand yards. A wider field of view allows the viewer to take inmore territory without moving the glasses. A wide field of view is an asset, particularly when viewingfast moving objects at close range. Again, the higher the magnification, the lower the field of view.There are binoculars on the market with extra-wide fields of view. These sell at higher prices than thesame binoculars with standard fields of view.

Focusing There are two different focusing systems in binoculars - central focusing and individualfocusing. In binoculars with individual focusing, each eyepiece is focused individually according to acalibrated scale on it. With central focusing, both eyepieces are focused simultaneously by turning aknurled knob between the barrels. On most such binoculars, the right eyepiece has a scale for adjustingthe visual difference between your two eyes. Very few people have the same vision in both eyes.

The advantage of centrally focused binoculars is the ease and convenience of focusing. Most highquality binoculars manufactured today have central focusing. Individual-focus binoculars are fine if onlyone person is using them because the focus will not be changed. They are somewhat simpler inconstruction, hence they are less expensive.

Coating On high quality binoculars, the lenses are always coated with magnesium fluoride on the air-to-glass surface. This coating eliminates reflections and glare and allows greater light transmission.Reflected light bounces off the prisms in the binoculars, reaching the eye as haze and making the imageless sharp.

Alignment The barrels of binoculars must be in perfect alignment, or your eyes won't be able to makeone image out of two. You can safely assume that any new pair of binoculars, when purchased, will bein perfect alignment. However, with cheap and flimsy binoculars, the alignment can change with use.When a change in alignment is only slight, your eyes can compensate for it, but using non-alignedbinoculars will cause you eyestrain and headaches. The best protection against non-alignment lies in thereputation of the manufacturer and his guarantee. All high quality binoculars are sold with a guarantee ofanywhere from five years to a lifetime.

Definition The definition - the clarity and sharpness - of binoculars changes from the center to the edgeof the viewing field. No binoculars have perfect center-to-edge definition. However, in binoculars withgood optics, the edge definition has deteriorated to such a low point that it is almost unnoticeable. Whenpurchasing binoculars, compare the edge definition in binoculars of different price brackets by focusingon a flat surface such as a wall.

Coloring High quality binoculars are always corrected for colors most noticeable to the eyes. Lookthrough binoculars at a dark object against a bright sky to see if you get rainbows or strong color fringes.These color fringes impair good definition.

Other Features When purchasing good binoculars examine their general appearance. Make sure that thebinoculars are well finished. See that the focusing mechanism and the hinges work smoothly. Look atthe external covering on the barrels to ascertain that it is attached well. If you can afford only low-pricedbinoculars, shake them to see if any screws or prisms are loose inside. Look at the external parts to seehow well they are cemented together. Give the objective lens a tap with your knuckle to make sure thatit is mounted solidly. Read the manufacturer's guarantee and compare it with the guarantees ofcompetitive brands.

SELECTING BINOCULARS

Buying binoculars can be a baffling business. There are a great many models to choose from and inmany price ranges. Binoculars with seemingly similar features can vary as much as two hundred dollarsin price. And then there is the question of magnification and the diameter of the objective lens. Almosteveryone knows that binoculars designated as 7X35 or 10X50 means that the binoculars rated as 7X willmagnify seven times, while those rated at 10X will magnify ten times. The figures thirty-five and fiftyare the diameters of the objective lenses in millimeters.

The best all-around binoculars for the outdoors are 7X35. Such a glass is easy to hold without unduehand tremor. It has good light-gathering abilities for forest use on dark days. It is an excellent choice forbird watching, hunting, and even for spectator sports.

Another good choice is 8X30. It offers a bit more magnification. but less light-gathering ability. It issuitable for big-game hunting and bird watching. Another popular glass is 9X35. This is a binocular foropen country mountains and plains. It is not as easy to hold steady as a 7X35 and is best used when theviewer can sit down and brace his elbows against his upright knees to steady his hands.

Binoculars such as 10X50 are for long-range viewing, but they are too bulky and heavy if you haveother gear to carry as well. For night use and for navigation, 7X50 are the best bet. These binoculars arealso bulky and heavy, but they have tremendous light-gathering ability.

On the other hand, binoculars such as 6X25 are a little too small for general use. However, because oftheir small size and lightness they can be shoved into the pocket of a jacket and taken along whenbulkier and heavier binoculars would be left behind. This is why I own such a pair.

Most high quality binoculars today are made in the United States, West Germany, and Japan. The onlyAmerican manufacturer is Bausch and Lomb. Their binoculars are expensive, but of outstanding quality.The 9X35 Bausch and Lomb binoculars are the choice of many knowledgeable mountain hunters. Onecan hardly go wrong in choosing binoculars by Bausch and Lomb.

Three outstanding German makes are Zeiss, Leitz, and Hensoldt. Zeiss lenses are world renowned andtheir binoculars are excellent. Zeiss makes a very fine 8X30 binocular crated entirely in rubber formaximum water resistance and protection against non-alignment if the binoculars are accidentallydropped. The rubber absorbs most of the shock.Leitz, the manufacturers of Leica cameras, make several models of roofprismatic binoculars. TheseLeitz Trinovid binoculars have their prisms arranged in a different way which makes them very slim andlight. Indeed, Leitz binoculars are one-third to one-half lighter and one-quarter to one-third less bulkythan binoculars with comparable magnification and objective lenses of the conventional Potro prismdesign. The Trinovids are made in 7X35, 8X32, and 10X40. The 10X40's are smaller and lighter thanconventional 7X35's. The only hangup with these Leitz binoculars is their price - over four hundreddollars for the 10X40's. The other powers are a little less expensive.

Excellent binoculars are made in Japan. Indeed, the Japanese have captured most of the low and medium-priced binocular market. Such camera manufacturers as Pentax and Nikon both make good,mediumpriced binoculars. But perhaps the best known brand is Bushnell.

Bushnell glasses are excellent, and are made in many styles ranging from low to medium in price. I haveused Bushnell binoculars in 7X35 and 6X25 with great satisfaction. Other Japanese manufacturers areTasco and Swift. Low-priced Japanese-made binoculars can be had for fifty dollars, while the medium-priced binoculars range from about one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars.

OTHER OPTICS

Some outdoorsmen may find other optical instruments useful. For example, the rock hound and thebotany bug may need a magnifying lens for evaluation and identification of specimens. A serious birdwatcher and a big-game hunter in the mountains may want a spotting 'scope. These are powerfulinstruments with magnifications ranging from 20X to 30X.

The criteria for selecting spotting 'scopes are essentially the same as for selecting binoculars. Spotting'scopes cannot be hand-held for viewing efficiency. They must be mounted on a tripod which willelevate them to a standing position or to a prone position. Bird watchers will prefer a tall tripod such asone used in photography. Big game hunters generally prefer a prone tripod because it is shorter andlighter and because hunters prefer to remain hidden and inconspicuous as they peer over mountainledges.

CHAPTER 8THE OUTDOORSMAN'S KNIFE

The knife is one of man's earliest tools. Its history goes back to the stirrings of time when our ancientancestors first used a sharp piece of stone to cut the skin and flesh from their quarry. But it was not untilthe Stone Age, and perhaps even the Bronze Age, that the knife became a weapon. Over the centuriesthe knife has changed, but its use has not. To an outdoorsman a knife at times is an indispensable tool. Iwould rather go on a wilderness trip without a pair of pants than without a knife.

Essentially, outdoorsmen's knives can be divided into two general types: sheath knives, sometimescalled belt knives, and folding knives, also called pocket knives. These terms are easily understood.Sheath knives are carried in a sheath, usually on the belt. The blades of folding knives fold into thehandle. Some longer and heavier folding knives are also carried folded in a sheath.

Folding knives are nearly always general-purpose knives. They have no specialized tasks. Sheath knives,on the other hand, come in different styles and are for different purposes. The most common is still asort of general purpose knife, but we also have filleting knives with long, thin, flexible blades; skinningknives with broad curved blades; caping knives with thin, fine blades and blunted points for caping orskinning out the heads of big-game animals. There is a special dressing knife with a short blade and aheavy knob on the point for dressing big-game animals which lessens the risk of puncturing theintestines. You can even buy an Eskimo oo-you, a skinning knife with a semicircular blade.

Moreover, when one considers styles; shapes of blades; styles, shapes, and materials of handles; types ofsteel; and methods of manufacture, the choice is staggering and at times bewildering. Choosing a knifeis not difficult once you have established some basic criteria. By far the most important consideration isthe knife's purpose. The next may be cost. The third criterion may be personal preference - the style ofthe blade or design of the handle. To some people, this criterion may be even more important than thatof cost.

But the most important factor when choosing a knife is quality. Often the high price of an item is notnecessarily indicative of a good product. In the case of knives, however, it generally is. There is a bigdifference in quality between a fine, custom-crafted knife made by one of two-dozen custom knifesmithsand a $4.95 knife that you may find at the sporting goods counter of a discount department store.

Signs of good quality are not always easy to detect in knives. In sheath knives, look at the way thehandle is attached to the blade. Bolt rivets running through the handle are an excellent way of keepingthe handle firmly attached. A bolt which is part of the knife blade is-also excellent. Beware ofembellishment on the blade. It is useless and may have been put there to distract the purchaser fromflaws and poor quality. There should be no gaps where the guard meets the blade. The finish shouldshine. The lines should be clean and smooth. The knife should feel and look solid, even if it is adelicately bladed caping knife.

A good hint of a knife's quality lies in its sheath. A manufacturer or maker of a good knife will notsupply it with a sheath of poor workmanship and quality. However, not all sheaths of high quality knivesare practical for field use, so choose one that can stand wear and tear. When you see what appears to bea good quality knife in a cheap and shoddy sheath, don't gamble. Leave it alone.

A good quality folding knife is easier to recognize than a sheath knife. Look for a smooth spring actionwhen the knife is opened and closed. The blade should click audibly into the open and closed positions.When a folding knife is closed, the point of the blade should be covered by the sides of the handle.When the blade is opened, the blade should not move from side to side. Such a movement indicates aloose pivot rivet. The handle, or rather the covering on the folding knife's body that serves as a handle,should be firmly attached. If it looks rather flimsy, don't risk buying it.

To fully understand the underlying features of knives, one should know a little about how knives aremade. Essentially a piece of good steel of about one-percent carbon content is heated until it is a bright,glowing red. It is then quenched in a liquid bath. The fluid in the bath varies from maker to maker. Thenext step can vary. The blade is either forged or milled, depending on what the maker believes producesa superior blade. Outstanding knife makers such as Randall, Moran, and Ruana insist on forging, whileequally outstanding knife makers such as Seguine, Olsen, and Gerber mill away the excess metal. Bothtechniques make good knives. The important point in producing a knife is the tempering of the blade.All high quality knives are well tempered.

When buying a knife, don't take much stock of promotional propaganda such as "special alloys","miracle steel", and so on. High-carbon steel is high-carbon steel. High-carbon stainless steel is as goodor almost as good as plain high-carbon steel, but it is more difficult to work with. This is one reason whyin two knives of the same quality, the knife made of stainless steel will be more expensive. Stay awayfrom inexpensive stainless-steel knives.

The type of steel used by the various makers and manufacturers of knives varies. Randall uses Swedishhigh carbon. American, German, or British high-carbon steel is just as good, but the Swedes are famousfor their steel so it is part of the image. Ruana uses a chrome-vanadium alloy. Buck knives have a fairamount of chromium in them which makes them rust-resistant. Morseth makes his knife bladeslaminated a hard edge with softer steel on the sides of the blade.

One of the best and easiest ways to ensure that the knife you buy is good, is to purchase knives made bywell-known knife makers. Essentially there are four classes of knife makers. First there are the customknifesmiths. The knives that these men make are entirely hand made, sometimes requiring up to twelvehours of highly skilled hand labor for a knife with special features. Needless to say, custom knives areexpensive but, in my opinion, they are well worth the investment for an outdoorsman who uses a kniferegularly. A good generaluse, custom-made outdoor knife by a top knifesmith can be purchased eventoday for about $50. Top custom knife makers are Randall, Moran, Draper, Boone, Cooper, Hibben,Loveless, Morseth, Seguine, Carey, and others. A comprehensive list of knife makers and their addressescan be obtained from A. G. Russell, P.O. Box 474, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701.

In many cases you can obtain a general-use outdoor knife from these people on short notice. Most likelythey will have what you want in stock. However, if you want a knife of your own design or with somespecial feature, you will have to wait up to eighteen months in some cases. Most knife makers are farbehind in their orders. Despite the seemingly high prices, custom knife makers don't get rich - the profitmargin is too small and the price of skilled labor is high. Many of them have alternate sources ofincome. Sequine, the Alaskan knife maker, finds that the only time he can make a profit is in winterwhen he can hire help at a reasonable price; Randall, the Florida knifesmith, owns orange groves andother enterprises; Carey, the custom knife maker in the fishing village of Port Stanley on Ontario's shoreof Lake Erie, is a machinist.

The second class of outdoor knives is made by production manufacturing techniques. Their prices, ofcourse, are lower than those of the custom makers, but their knives are also of good quality. Buck,Olsen, Gerber, Browning, Colt, and Puma are well-known makers of such knives. Browning and Coltare distributors, and who actually manufactures their knives, I don't know. Prices start about $15 for thesmaller models and run to about $45. What surprises me is that Gerber and Buck can turn out knives ofsuch good quality at such low prices.

The next class of knives are true mass-production knives, but good quality is still maintained. Suchknives will cost from about $10 to $15. They are a good buy for a man who feels that this is all he canafford. Respected brand names of such knives are Marble, Case, Western, Schrade-Walden, andNormark.

The quality control of production or mass-production knives is not as high as that of the custom knifemakers, who carefully inspect knives during every stage of their manufacture. Thus it is at timespossible to buy a massproduced knife that has slipped through the quality control and is below standard.When this happens, you can pretty well count on the manufacturer to give you a replacement. Thesemanufacturers stand behind their products, but the manufacturers of the really cheap knives never do. Ifthey did, they could not stay in business.

WHICH KNIFE FOR WHAT?

As I said earlier, the ultimate choice of an outdoor knife depends on its purpose. A canoe tripper or asmall-game hunter will find a knife with a three-inch blade ample for his needs. Such a knife will beuseful for most chores he will have to perform. A three-inch blade is quite long enough for making a firestick from a dry white pine bow, for dressing out a game bird, or for cleaning a fish, even a fifteen-pound lake trout.

Such a knife can be either a sheath or a folding knife, depending on personal preference. There areseveral fine folding knives on the market with blades of that length. However, one of the problems withfolding knives is that they are usually carried in the pocket where they can be lost easily. Also, thesturdier and heavier folding knives are too heavy and bulky for pocket use. For this reason, some foldingknives do come with a belt case, which is an excellent idea. Another good idea is to attach a leather loopto a snap swivel. A belt is run through the loop and the snap swivel is attached to a ring or keeper on theknife, providing, of course, the knife has one. Should the knife fall out of your pocket, the loop andswivel will prevent its loss.

For wider, but still general outdoor use, a knife with a four-inch or four-and-ahalf-inch blade is moreversatile. Such a knife will perform almost anything that the smaller bladed knife will and then some.True, you may feel a bit foolish dressing out an eight-inch brook trout with such a big knife, but on theother hand, a four-and-a-half-inch blade is long enough for filleting a twenty-pound northern pike. Italso is a bit better for dressing out a moose or an elk; not that a three-inch blade won't do the job in apinch. I know that it will, because I have done it more than once. But a four-and-a-half-inch blade is abetter choice. In fact, for dressing moose and elk, a five-inch blade may be even better. However, in myopinion, a blade longer than five inches is not needed. Any woodsman will tell you that the mark of agreenhorn is a long-bladed knife.Of course, for special tasks, you should have a special knife. The most common specialty knife for anoutdoorsman is a filleting knife. Such a knife should have a long, flexible blade. Although the flesh of afish is soft and easy to cut, a filleting knife must be able to take a sharp edge. Filleting a fish is actually afairly precise task.

Another specialty knife is a skinning knife. Such a knife generally has a broad, curved blade. Basically itis designed for skinning fur-bearing animals. For skinning deer or other biggame animals, a skinningknife is not really needed. A caping knife, as was explained earlier, is a specialized skinning knife usedfor caping out the heads of big-game animals. Generally caping knives have broad, thin blades.Although any smallbladed knife can be used for caping, the special knives make the job easier andperhaps present less of a risk of nicking through the headskin. The average outdoorsman does not need askinning or a caping knife. On the other hand, a big-game hunter who usually hunts without a guide mayfind a caping knife very handy if he ever bags a head of mounting size.

Every well-designed knife has a certain visual excellence. The design may be fairly conventional, as inthe Ruana or Buck knives; it may be subtly classical, like the Morseth deer knife; or very contemporary,like the knives of Gerber. But beyond the looks, there is also a feel. A knife must feel comfortable inyour hand. If it feels awkward and clumsy, don't buy it. Look for another design or style.

One thing I would advise is that you avoid too many gadgets on your knife. My remarks here aredirected more towards folding knives. Scissors, screwdrivers, and the kitchen sink may be fine for aknife designed for the Swiss Army, but such a knife is not really needed in the outdoors. Usually gadgetson such knives do not perform the tasks they were meant for, or at least they don't perform them well. Iprefer a pair of good scissors in my first-aid kit and a set of small and handy screwdrivers with myguncleaning equipment. The only gadget I think is useful is a bird-gutting hook, seen on some of theEuropean folding knives.

Aside from knife design, consider the handle. Handles contribute to the feel and the look of a knife, aswell as to the overall design. Knife handles are made from exotic woods, staghorn, Micarta, leather,metal, synthetics, and even ivory. I have even seen knife handles made from the feet of the smallEuropean roe deer. Such handles give me the willies. They were not meant for outdoor use - for wet oreven, at times, blood-covered hands.

Any of the other materials I have mentioned make suitable handles. Those on Buck knives are made ofepoxy. Gerber knives have cast aluminum handles. When I first heard of them I thought they would beslippery when wet or when grasped by a wet or bloody hand, but this is not the case. These handles arewell designed for a solid grip under all conditions. Randall makes knife handles according to thecustomer's preference - from ivory to leather. Leather, wood, and staghorn are probably the mostcommon materials for knife handles. They are all good when well made, and they all look good.

HOW MANY KNIVES?

You may need more than one knife - a knife for each major task. This, of course, depends entirely onwhat you do or want to do in the out-of-doors. A canoe tripper may need only one knife. A folding knifewith a three-inch blade or even a sheath knife with a four-inch blade will do. The same applies tocampers and hikers. A small-game hunter will never need more than one knife - one with a three-inchblade. A deer hunter would find such a knife adequate as well, unless he wanted to cut through the ribcage and quarter the animal. A larger, heavier knife would be needed for this purpose, but a light ax,hatchet, or meat saw would be even better. A big-game hunter should have a knife with a fourto-five-inch blade and possibly a caping knife. A fisherman should ideally have two knives - one for dressingfish and one for filleting. However, both tasks can be performed with a thin-bladed knife with a four tofive-inch blade.

From this we can see that an outdoorsman with many interests may need three or even four differentknives. Indeed, when going on a long trip into the wilderness, one should carry a spare knife for generaluse. More knives are lost than ever wear out or break.

KNIFE CARE

A knife is easy to care for; with proper care any knife of good quality can last a lifetime. It should bestored in a dry place, but never in its sheath, because the leather may have impurities in it which cancause corrosion pits on the blade of the knife. When a knife is being stored for a long period, its bladeshould be lightly oiled.

Whenever a knife gets wet, it should be dried as soon as possible. This includes stainless steel knives.Water does not do wooden or leather handles any good at all. For this reason, dirty knives should becleaned with a wet cloth, but not actually immersed in water unless absolutely necessary. Another majorsin is the actual misuse of knives. Knives are meant for cutting. They are not meant to be used ashatchets, screwdrivers, or can openers. You cannot expect a knife to keep a proper, let alone a sharp,edge, if you mistreat it.

SHARPENING A KNIFE

A dull knife is a useless knife. A dull knife is also dangerous more strength has to be exerted to make adull knife cut, sometimes causing it to slip. A cut with a dull knife is more hazardous than a cut with asharp knife because a dull knife tends to tear a wound, destroying more cells and making a wider gashthat takes longer to heal. The cut of a sharp knife is finer. Less tissue is destroyed. The cut doesn't bleedas much, heals faster, and is less prone to become infected.

A properly cared-for knife is never allowed to get too dull. A very dull knife is much harder to sharpen,and its edge will become ruined much more quickly. Sharpening a knife is not difficult. A hardbladedknife may take longer to sharpen, but it stays sharp indefinitely. A knife with a soft blade sharpensquickly and becomes dull just as quickly. A soft blade is a mark of a cheap knife.

When sharpening a knife, there are two considerations to take into account. Are you just touching up theedge or are you putting on a new edge? The latter should be done on a table, bench, or some other firmsupport, and on a big oil stone. Touching up can be done in the field and usually with a small pocketstone.

To sharpen a knife, lift the back of the blade so that the blade is at a twenty-degree angle. Now strokethe blade across the stone from the back to the point, first on one side and then on the other. Bear downon the knife with some force, but make sure that you maintain the twenty-degree angle. Light strokeswill not achieve much. You may think that you are sharpening a knife that way, but you are not. Whenthe edge no longer reflects light and you can shave a hair off your arm, you know that it is sharp. Forthose who feel that sharpening a knife is a difficult task - despite these instructions - Buck makes ahandy gadget which clamps onto the blade to maintain the proper angle. With this gadget the blade isthen swept across the stone.

If your knife produces a "wire edge" (you will see it when you hold the knife up), you will need to honeit on a strop or on a piece of heavy cardboard. Just draw the edge backwards across the strop orcardboard on both sides of the blade until the "wire edge" disappears. For touching up an edge, hold theknife and lightly run the stone over the edge at a twenty-degree angle, but don't bear down.

For touching up, any small, pocket carborundum stone is fine. For real sharpening, a big oil stone isneeded - at least eight inches in length and preferably twelve inches. The oil stone must be firmlyanchored to the bench. The stone should have a medium and a fine side. Be sure to use plenty of lightmachine or honing oil or some other lubricant to prevent the pores of the stone from sludging up. A. G.Russell's Arkansas oil stones are the best I know. With a little experience you will find that sharpening aknife is not at all difficult.

Outdoorsmen generally think of knives as mere tools, something they work with. And like everycraftsman, they take pride in their tools. But is this all there is to knives? I think not. There is somethingstronger here, invisible and perhaps a bit mystical. It is one of those atavistic feelings that comes fromdeep in a man's soul. The knife was one of the first implements that separated us - made us differentfrom the other animals. It contributed to making us what we have been and what we are.

CHAPTER 9THE ART OF AXMANSHIP

I enjoy chopping wood. Why exactly, I don't know. Probably it is a symbolic sort of satisfaction, aspiritual rebellion against our mechanical age. It is unlikely that the kids playing street hockey outsidemy window as I write this, will ever know how to use an ax. When my father was a boy, one of his dailychores was to bring in a bundle of kindling for the kitchen stove and the stove in the parlor. By the time Iwas in my teens, when you wanted the house to be a little warmer, you turned up the thermostat. Yet Ilearned to use an ax despite the handicaps of modern life. I recognized early that axmanship wassynonymous with, and a part of, woodsmanship. I believe more strongly than ever that anyone who callshimself an outdoorsman, but doesn't know how to use an ax, is a sham. For those of you who grew upwith a thermostat and an oil furnace instead of a wood stove, but want to learn how to use an ax, here ishow.CHOOSING AN AX

The first step in learning to use an ax is to choose a proper one. My recommendation for all-aroundoutdoor use is a single-bitted ax weighing about three pounds, with a thirty-inch handle. Stay away fromaxes that are much heavier than this because they are meant for heavy-duty wood chopping and littleelse. Also stay away from twobitted axes - ones with two blades. They are loggers' axes. The three-pound ax I am recommending can be used not only for chopping wood, but also for driving tent pegsand for dozens of other chores around camp. If weight is a factor, you can go to a lighter ax, two-and-a-quarter or two-and-a-half pounds, with a shorter handle of about twenty-four inches. Such an ax is abetter bet than a hatchet. It will do everything that a hatchet will and more, but a person of smaller,lighter build may find a smaller and lighter ax more manageable and more comfortable to use.

When buying an ax, don't skimp on quality just to save a couple of dollars. That is poor economy. Whenchoosing an ax, sight along the blade to make sure that the handle is not warped or that the blade is notset off too much from the center line of the handle. Make sure that the head is attached securely to thehandle by being firmly wedged.

Look the handle over carefully. Make sure that the grain runs parallel to the sides. Avoid axes where thegrain in the handle twists too much. This could mean serious structural weakness. The best ax handlesare made of hickory. Never buy an ax with a completely painted handle. Paint can hide flaws andweaknesses in the wood. Remember, an ax will last a lifetime if you take care of it. Your choice shouldreflect this.

Every ax should have a leather sheath for the head, not only for safety, but to prevent nicks on thecutting edge. Most axes, when they are bought, have too thick a blade and the cutting edge has too quicka taper to cut well. It should be ground down a little. If you do this on a power grindstone, keep the bladecool by dipping it continuously in a bucket of water. If you let it overheat, you will draw or ruin thetemper. An ax can be sharpened quickly on an emery wheel, but eventually this ruins the blade. Coarsesharpening can be done with a fine file. Then switch to a coarse stone and finish sharpening with amedium stone. The best stone for ax-sharpening is a round one. It has no sharp edges to rub through apacksack, so you can carry it with you whenever you take the ax. An ax should never be left lyingaround. It can cause accidents or accidents can happen to it. Keep it hung in its sheath or sink the bladeinto the top of a stump.

The handle of the ax is its weak part. At home it is easy to replace - all you have to do is buy a new one,drive the stub out of the ax, insert the new handle, and wedge it firmly onto the ax. But if your ax handlebreaks deep in the bush, that is a different matter. Stones and hardwood pegs may be used to drive thebroken stub of the old handle out. If this doesn't work, you will have to bum the stub out. Bury the, axhead up to the eye in loose earth. Build a fire around it and keep burning until the stub bums off andbecomes loose enough to be driven out. To improvise a temporary handle, use any hardwood. To drivethe sap out of green wood to toughen it, roast the wood in warm coals. This will season it somewhat.CUTTING WITH AN AX

Now, let's fell a tree for firewood. The best wood is a dead, standing tree. It is dry - seasoned - and willburn well. Dead trees and branches lying on the ground are generally damp and make smoky fires. First,walk around the tree to determine which way it leans. That is the direction you want to drop it, becauseit is easier. If there is a standing tree in that direction that might hang it up, then plan to drop it slightly toone side. Consider also the direction of the wind. It is much easier to drop a tree with the wind than intothe wind. Dropping a tree cross wind represents no major problem unless the wind is very strong.

Before starting, make sure that there are no branches, small saplings, or brush within reach of your ax.They could deflect your ax and cause an accident. The secret in cutting with an ax lies in the grip. Graspthe helve - the old term for the handle - with both hands close together near the butt. Touch the blade ofthe ax to the tree to get the right distance. As you raise the ax over your right shoulder, slide your righthand up (providing you are right-handed) about three-quarters of the way towards the head of the ax. Asyou bring the ax down, slide your right hand down the handle until it touches your left hand. Strike sothat the blade cuts into the tree at about a forty-five degree angle to the grain. Don't attempt to putexcessive force into the swing. You cannot get any accuracy this way. The fastest chopping is achievedwith many fast and accurate blows, not with brute force.

The first notch is made near the bottom of the tree on the side on which you want the tree to drop. Makethe notch about half way through. Tyros generally start by making their notches too narrow. Narrownotches make cutting difficult. A good rule of thumb is to make the notch as wide as the diameter of thetree that you are cutting.

Your next notch should be a few (three or four) inches above the first one and directly opposite it. Whenthe tree begins to fall, step away to one side of the cut, not behind it. Should the top branches of thefalling tree catch on another tree, the butt may snap and fly backwards several feet. Many injuries havebeen caused by backward-flying butts.

The next task is to limb the tree. Stand on the opposite side of the tree from which you want to removethe limbs. In this way, if the ax glances off the tree it will glance away from your legs. Work from thebutt to the top, chopping at the bottom side of the branches. Limbing goes fastest this way, and it iseasier to make the cuts flush with the trunk. The next step is to cut off the crown. On small trees, this canbe done with one notch all the way through. Bigger trees may require two notches, opposite one another,with each going half way.

To cut the trunk into usable lengths, simply chop two notches half way through the trunk on oppositesides of each other as before. This is easier than using one deep notch from the top down. You shouldalways stand on the trunk with your feet spread wide and chop between your feet. To split these pieces,use the butt section as a chopping block. Lean the chunk to be split against your chopping block andstrike a good hard blow on the upper end where the piece is resting. If the halves are still too large, splitthese the same wayinto quarters. Don't neglect the larger branches for firewood. Cut these into desiredlengths by holding them across the chopping block with one hand and striking them at a slight anglewith the ax. The chop should be delivered at the center of your chopping block where the branch isfirmly supported. To chop up kindling, always lay the piece to be kindled horizontally across thechopping block, grasp it at the lower end, and strike the top. Once the ax is embedded in the piece, youcan slam it down vertically to complete the cut. Never hold the piece to be kindled upright with onehand and chop with the other. That is an easy way to cut your hand.

CHAPTER 10CHAIN SAW TACTICS

Chain saws, particularly the small six-and-a-half pound outdoorsmen's models, have become widelyused tools. There are many reasons for this. The biggest one is that the chain saw can perform manytasks quickly and easily, leaving time to enjoy more leisurely outdoor pursuits.

Obviously, chain saws are taken into the outdoors only wheretheir extra weight and the weight of the gasoline needed to operatethem present no transportation problems. I use a chain saw on manyautomobile camping trips, but I would never take one on a backpackingtrip or on a canoe trip. Then my ax goes with me. Indeed, I have an ax handy even when felling trees orbucking logs with a chain saw. So do lumberjacks and pulp cutters who use their chain saws to earn aliving. Although I consider myself to be fairly handy with a chain saw, I am far from being an expert. Towrite this chapter, I have sought the advice of experts on the staff of McCulloch, the chain sawmanufacturers.

CHOOSING A CHAIN SAW

Choosing the right chain saw out of the many models available is not difficult, once you have decided onthe features you are looking for. After that, it is simply a matter of elimination. Most chain saws use anintegral two-cycle gasoline engine for power, dependability, and efficiency. Chain saws driven byelectric motors are also available, but these are limited in power and mobility.

There are two types of chain drives available in chain saws - direct drive and gear drive. Gear drives areused mostly by professionals who use heavy chains and want maximum lugging power. Direct drivechain saws are lighter, have fewer moving parts, and are easier to use. Little effort is required to usethese saws, as the fast-moving chain pulls the saw through the log. Direct drive saws are the right onesfor outdoorsmen. For the outdoorsman or the casual user, the smaller and lighter weight chain saws areprobably the best choice. Saws in the six-pound class (weighing about eight-and-a-half pounds completewith bar and chain) are usually rugged, dependable, and easy to use. Other small saws range from ten tofourteen pounds, plus bar and chain.

Engine displacement is the guide to a saw's power. Saws are available with from 1.5 to more than ninecubic inches displacement. A saw in the two to three-cubic-inch range is a good choice for theoutdoorsman. Other factors that affect a saw's available power are the type of cutting chain, sprocket,and guide bar used. A good rule of thumb when choosing a chain saw is to pick the one with the shortestguide bar to meet your average cutting needs. For instance, a twelve-inch bar will cut a twenty-four-inchlog in half, with two passes. The chain that comes with your saw is matched to the saw's power output.If you need to replace the chain, always replace it with an identical chain.

Aside from the basic features described above, there are many "convenience" features on today's chainsaws. Some outdoorsmen consider easy starting to be an important consideration because cutting canrequire frequent stopping of the chain saw while moving from one spot to another. Today's chain sawsare available with push-button electric starters or a compression-release for easy manual starting.

As the chain moves around the guide bar in its special groove, friction develops, building up heat. Alubricating oil must be pumped into the groove during heating to combat this friction. Automatic oilingduring cutting is considered by some to be an important feature, as it requires less conscious effort thansaws with manual oiler buttons.

One important aspect of any chain saw should be "feel" or operator comfort. Newer chain saws tend tohave all the controls (on-off switch, throttle, oiler, choke buttons, and so on) conveniently located nearthe handle, and handle vibration has been almost completely eliminated. Operator comfort also includesnoise reduction. Most of today's chain saws have mufflers that reduce noise impulses up to seventy-fivepercent.

Modern chain saws have many other extra features. Whether or not your chain saw is equipped withthese, will depend on personal preference and budgetary considerations. Remember, though, that as inthe case of knives and axes, quality pays in the long run.

CUTTING TECHNIQUES

Any exposed portion of the chain around the guide bar of a chain saw can be used for cutting. Mostcutting is done with the bottom edge of the guide bar, allowing the fast moving chain to "eat" its waythrough the wood. Cuts made with the top edge of the bar require putting the saw through the wood.

To fell a tree, make your first cut (1) to about one-quarter to one-third of the tree's diameter. Then makethe diagonal cut (2) to meet the first cut. Begin your backcut (3) on the opposite side, about two incheshigher than the level cut.

Here is a brief rundown of chain saw cutting methods.

Felling The method of felling a tree is influenced by physical factors such as the size of the tree, theslope of the ground, adjacent trees, and so on. Experience in felling can be gained by observingprofessionals and by practising on smaller "safe" trees. Large trees, or those where the direction of fall iscritical, should be left to experienced fellers.

When felling a tree, and indeed in any chain saw operation, one should always bear in mind the safetyaspect and take no risks; know beforehand your path of retreat as the tree begins to fall; check for deadbranches or loose sheets of bark that might fall from the tree; and clear any obstacles from the groundunder the falling tree.

Undercutting Make the first cut horizontally on the side of the tree in the direction of the fall. Considerhow much stump you want to leave. Cut through a quarter to a third of the tree's diameter, perpendicularto the line of fall. Then make a diagonal cut downward to meet the first cut. Remove the chunk of woodfrom the notch.

Backcutting Start the backcut on the opposite side of the tree, two inches higher than the level of thehorizontal undercut. Do not cut through into the notch. Leave a small uncut section between theundercut and the backcut to act as a hinge. The tree should fall at ninety degrees to the face of the hinge.Leaving the hinge thicker at one end can usually make the tree fall toward the thickest side of the hinge.Always remove the saw from the cut before the tree falls, or the saw may get damaged.

Wedging Wedges are used to control the direction of the fall of a tree and to prevent saw binding in bothfelling and bucking. Wedges are made of plastic, aluminum, magnesium, hardwood, and steel. Neveruse a steel wedge in the same cut with a chain saw. The chain can get damaged if it accidentally cutsinto the wedge.

If a tree is large or has no apparent lean, wedges are employed to induce a lean. After the undercut notchhas been made and the backcut is about onequarter finished, stop the saw, leaving the saw in the cut.Then drive the wedge into the cut behind the bar. (Two wedges may be needed on large trees.) Thewedge must be driven in squarely, in line with the direction of the fall, and not at an angle. Restart thesaw and continue cutting. This procedure should establish a lean in the tree. If it has not, stop the sawagain and drive the wedge in farther. Be alert! As soon as the tree starts to tip, turn the saw off, pull itout of the cut, and quickly move away from the tree on your preplanned path of retreat.

Limbing After a tree has been felled, its limbs and branches must be cut off. Start at the butt end andwork towards the top of the tree. Branches on the down side of the tree must be cut carefully, as most areunder pressure from the weight of the tree. When cut, they can release like a spring and snap in anydirection.

When a branch is supported at both ends (by the tree at one end and the ground at the other), topcut thebranch first to prevent binding. Then finish with an undercut. When a branch is supported at one endonly, undercut first and then topcut. These procedures prevent peeling of the bark by the branch as itfalls away. Be sure that the log itself cannot roll or shift as supporting branches are cut.

Bucking The word "bucking" means to cut logs or large branches into convenient lengths. Care shouldbe taken not to cut into the ground on the "blind" side of the log. For logs supported at only one end,undercut one-third of the diameter and then finish from the top. For logs supported on both ends, firstcut from the top to about one-third of the diameter and then undercut to finish. Be careful when doingthis, as the two halves can drop very suddenly. When bucking on a hill, stand on the uphill side.With a little practice, you should be able to handle a chain saw with no problem whatsoever. One veryimportant thing to remember, though, when using a chain saw is that there is no way to stop a fallingtree. Don't start a job you are not certain you can handle.

CHAIN SAW SAFETY

Accidents with chain saws can happen in the same way as accidents with other power tools in yourhome. They are generally the result of horseplay or other foolish behavior. And they can be preventedsimply by treating the chain saw with respect, by wearing proper clothing, and by developing sensibleoperating habits.

When you are using your chain saw, think safe; plan ahead; keep children away; dress properly (watchany scarves or loose, hanging garments); handle fuel safely; keep your chain sharp; practise preventivemaintenance; and stop the saw when you are not cutting. If you observe these basic safety rules, chancesof having an accident are minimal.

CHAPTER 11CAMPFIRE MYSTIQUE

Cooking on a campfire is a vanishing art. Indeed, building a truly fine campfire is a skill rarelypossessed by outdoor recreationists who probably consider themselves "outdoorsmen". The reasons forthis are understandable and lamentable. Undoubtedly a gasoline or propane stove is at times moreconvenient. Even the young Cree-Indian fishing guides in northern Canada more often than not cook fortheir clients a shore lunch of fish fillets on a gasoline stove. The old-timers sneer at this, preferringinstead the traditional campfire.

Were it not for gasoline and propane stoves, camping would have to be seriously curtailed in many areasof this continent because there are just not enough dead or living trees to go around. To compound thisproblem, in some areas campfires are not allowed. A campfire has a mystical aura that no propane stoveor tent heater will ever match. It symbolizes the very heart of the out-of-doors. Surprisingly, there is arevival of interest in campfires. Perhaps the increasing number of canoe trippers, wildernessbackpackers, hunters, and anglers who want to get away deep into the bush may account for this surge ofinterest. A few years ago many of the camping articles in our outdoor magazines dealt with how to buycamp stoves. Today, they describe campfire woods and how to build campfires. There has always been ahard core of hunters and fishermen to whom a campfire has never lost its charisma, but by and large therise of interest in campfires and fireplaces is a new phenomenon. I hope that it continues. Everyone whoconsiders himself an outdoorsman should know how to make a good campfire.

CAMPFIRE WOODS

One way to get a proper campfire is to use the right wood. If you want a pot of tea in a hurry, you willhave to use a quick-starting wood such as poplar. But to broil a venison steak, you will need hot coalssuch as those produced by seasoned hickory.

Wood (and trees) can be divided into two groups - hard and soft. In the case of trees, this division issomewhat of a misnomer. Conifers are called softwoods, while deciduous trees are called hardwoods byforest workers from pulp cutters to forestry engineers. Although all evergreen trees have soft wood, sodo many species of hardwood or broad-leafed trees such as poplar, alder, and basswood. The hardwoodswith truly hard wood are oak, hickory, maple, birch, and sweet gum.

THE HARDWOOD OR DECIDUOUS TREES

Alder The alder is a fast-growing tree of swamplands and stream bottoms. It is found from Alaska to theGulf coast, from Newfoundland to the mid-west, and from the Rockies to the Pacific. It bums fast, witha quick flame and strong heat, but it also bums out quickly.

Alder tends to spit and snap, so watch for sparks. It is excellent for quick boiling and cooking and isgood for baking. Because it burns fast, have plenty of it cut. It makes excellent kindling when wellseasoned.

Ash There are about fifteen species of ash in eastern North America. Their range extends from centralOntario and British Columbia south to Florida. Ash, particularly the red, white, and black varieties thatare most often used as campfire wood, live on moist sites.

All ash are heavy hardwoods. They don't make good kindling because they tend to start burning slowly.White ash can be used for firewood green, while red and black ash should be seasoned first. They allthrow good strong heat, and produce coals which are ideal for broiling and frying.

Basswood The linden, as the basswood is sometimes called, is found from Maine to the Dakotas andfrom southern Ontario to Kentucky. It is very light and soft. When used for fuel, it should be wellseasoned. It bums quickly and turns to ash rapidly. It spits and snaps and throws sparks readily, so becareful and be certain the area around your campfire is cleared of humus and dead leaves. Basswood,like all soft woods, is good for boiling and quick cooking.

Birch The birches - black, yellow, and white - make good firewood. Black and yellow birch are superiorto white. However, trappers in northern Canada depend on the hardy white birch to heat their cabinsthrough the long winter. Birches are hard and heavy. Yellow birch is found from New England toMinnesota and from Central Ontario south to Pennsylvania. Black birch ranges from southern Maine andsouthern Ontario to northern Alabama along the Appalachian Mountains. White birch, sometimes calledpaper or silver birch, is found from Alaska south through Canada and the Great Lakes states to theAtlantic seaboard.

The bark from all these birches is easily stripped off and makes excellent kindling. Birches burn welleven when wet. They start readily, and bum slowly and with an intense flame. The coals retain heat for along time and are good for frying a steak or simmering a stew.Beech The beech is a very hard wood. Its range extends from central Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico andfrom Maine to Kansas. It will burn when green and give off plenty of heat. Many outdoorsmen ratebeech as highly as oak. The coals retain heat for a long time, making them a good bet for frying andbroiling.

Hickory All the hickories are excellent campfire woods, with the shagbark being the best. There is nodoubt that hickory is the finest of all campfire woods. The hickories are found in a variety of foresthabitats, and their general range extends from Maine and southern Ontario south to Louisiana and Texas.

Hickory sawdust and chips are the best wood to use when smoking fish, ham, or bacon. A hickory-smoked ham is far superior to the synthetic chemical-smoking process used on supermarket hams.Similarly, a good steak - beef or venison broiled on a thick bed of hickory coals - is much tastier thancharcoal-broiled steak. It burns with a steady and hot flame, and its coals remain hot for a long time.

Hornbeam There are two species of hornbeams - the American and the hop - and both are very hard andheavy woods. Indeed, the hop hornbeam is sometimes called ironwood. The range of hornbeams extendsfrom southern Ontario through the eastern half of the United States to northern Florida. They do notburn too well when green, but after being well seasoned, they bum with a steady heat and produce hotcoals.

Maple There are over twenty maple species in North America, but only the hard or sugar maple makesfirst-rate firewood. It is hard and burns evenly, even when green. It leaves very hot and longlasting coalsfor long cooking or broiling.

The soft maples, such as the red maple, burn much like poplar quickly and easily. They are a better betfor quick cooking, but they should not be used unseasoned because they don't bum well when green.

How does one tell the soft maple from the hard maple? It is easy by the leaf margins. The lobes on a softmaple's leaf have serrated or saw-like margins, and the underside of the leaf is silvery green. Themargins of the leaf lobes of a hard maple are smooth, and the underside of the leaf is dull green.

Oak There are about sixty species of oaks in North America. Most of them make good firewood, butsome have to be seasoned first. Probably the best is white oak, which will start well and burn whengreen.

The red and water oak should be seasoned first. The oaks are all hard and dense woods that bum slowlyand produce hot coals. The only exceptions to this are the willow oak and the scarlet oak, both of whichbum fast. They can be used for quick boiling, while the other oaks are a good bet for long cooking andbroiling.

Poplar The poplar family contains the aspens and the cottonwoods. They are rapid growing trees. Someof the species are the first trees to recolonize old burns. Some species grow on high, dry, and sandy soils.Poplars range from Newfoundland to Alaska through the Rocky Mountain states, the Great Lakes, intoNew England, and south to Kentucky.

Poplar wood is light and soft. It bums quickly when dry. It is also a good wood for fast boiling andcooking, and it is ideal for getting a brown sheen on biscuits in a reflector oven. When dry, it makesgood kindling.

Sweet Gum This bottom land tree is a beautiful sight in the autumn. It is found from Connecticut toFlorida and west to Texas. It has a fairly soft wood and burns quickly, thus it is best used for quickcooking.

THE SOFTWOODS OR CONIFERS

Balsam Fir The balsam fir lives on moist bottom lands. Its range extends from Newfoundland tonorthern Alberta and south through the northern Great Lakes states to the Atlantic seaboard. It is verysoft and resinous, with a high moisture content when green. It is difficult to start a flame when green,hence it should be used only when seasoned. It burns quickly when dry and throws a fast heat. It spitsand snaps while burning, so be careful. The balsam fir is basically a quick-cooking wood. Small, dry,pencil-thick branches make good kindling, even when broken from a live tree.

Cedar The outdoorsman should concern himself with only red, white, and western red cedar forcampfires. However, cedars are only third-rate as campfire woods. White cedar and western red cedarlive on moist sites, while red cedar prefers open areas. Cedars, as a group, are widely distributed overNorth America. All cedars are light and soft woods that do not bum well when green. When seasoned,they ignite and burn quickly, but still give off a lot of smoke.

When cedar burns, sparks pop and fly, so the campfire must be in an area well cleared of debris andhumus. Cedar bark, when dried and shredded, makes tremendous tinder for starting fires.

Douglas Fir This large western evergreen is not really a fir, but is related to the spruces. It ranges fromsouthern British Columbia to central California and as far east as Montana. It is a soft and light woodthat bums quickly. It tends to be smoky. It is suitable only for quick boiling.

Pine The pines are widely distributed on the sandy soils of this continent. They are light and soft woods.White, red, jack, and lodgepole pines burn well even when green. Pitchpine has to be seasoned to burnwell. Pines all throw a surprising amount of light and are generally easy to ignite.

The pines are for quick cooking. They tend to pop and throw sparks, so be careful. They also blackencooking pots. If you are using pine as a campfire wood, coat the outside of your pots with soap for aneasy cleanup before putting them on the fire.

Spruce The spruces are widely distributed evergreen trees. White and black spruces range from coast tocoast and from Alaska to the Great Lakes. Western white, Douglas, Englemann, and Sitka spruces arewestern species, while red spruce is found from Nova Scotia through New England to central Ontario.The spruces are light and soft. To be good campfire fuels, they should be seasoned. They start easilywhen dry and make excellent kindling, but they never burn as fast as some of the other softwoods, hencethey are a good bet for all-around campfire cooking, as long as hot, long-lasting coals are not needed.Small dead branches of standing spruce trees make good fire starters, even in wet weather, but they dothrow sparks.

Tamarack The larch, as the tamarack is sometimes called, is the only conifer that sheds its needles everyfall. There are several species of larch. The larch belongs to the pine family, but is a much betterfirewood than the pines. Tamaracks range from Newfoundland north to the Yukon and south into theRocky Mountain states, the Great Lakes states, and into New England. It lives on moist, boggy soils. Itswood is the densest and heaviest of all the conifers, and is best when seasoned. Many northwoodsoutdoorsmen prefer the tamarack for firewood over all the other species except perhaps white birch. Thelarch bums with a strong and even heat, and is fairly long lasting, but it doesn't leave as good coals asthe birch. When burned green, it spits and sputters.

FIREPLACES

The second secret to a good campfire, particularly a good cooking fire, lies in the fireplace. The type offireplace you should build depends on the terrain, weather, prevailing winds, and, of course, the lengthof time you will be using the campsite. The best fireplace is one with a high back for draft and widearms for pots and pans, and a metal grill or grate. Such a fireplace can be constructed only if there areplenty of the right kind of rocks around.

The next best fireplace is the keyhole or flask-shaped ring made of rocks. The fire is maintained in themain portion of the fireplace. Hot coals are raked periodically under the grate into the narrow, lowerportion for cooking. Still another fireplace is a double row of rocks with a foot of space between themfor the fire. A grate is placed over these rows to support cooking utensils.

If no stones or rocks are available, a trench fireplace is a good bet. You must dig deep enough to get intomineral soil. The depth also depends on the size of the fire. The trench fireplace should be dug like anarrow, army foxhole. It must be narrow enough for a grate or iron rods, and the open end should beupwind. A more sophisticated version of a trench fireplace has a small hole upwind which is connectedwith the firepit. As warm air rises from the fire, cooler air comes into the firepit through this hole,assuring better combustion. A fireplace can also be made of two logs - preferably green hardwood. Thelogs are simply laid parallel to each other about a foot or so apart, or they are laid in the form of anarrow "V". The V-shaped fireplace is better on windy days in open country.

For a quick pot of coffee or tea water, an open fire is generally adequate if there is no wind or if the fireis sheltered from the wind. Three rocks can be used to support the coffee pot. So can three metal tentpegs. The pot can also be suspended over the fire with two sapling forks and a crossbar. Only the tyrowill use a perfect fork. The experienced outdoorsman knows that such a fork is hard to drive into theground. Select a sturdy sapling with a strong offshoot branch. Such a crotch is easier to sink byhammering on the main stem. The forks and crosspiece should always be cut of green wood, if possible.

For cooking over a campfire, you do not need any special cooking utensils. A frying pan is a must, as area couple of pots. You may wish to add a coffee pot as well. If weight is no problem, a cast-ironskillet is good to have. It must be well broken in before you actually use it for cooking.

For those who want to specialize in open fire cooking, a Dutch oven is a good investment. This issimply a large metal pot - cast iron or aluminum - with a close-fitting lid and three short legs. I prefercast iron, but aluminum is much lighter and does not need to be broken in before it is actually used. ADutch oven is ideal for cooking stews, beans, pot roasts, or even for baking bread over an open fire. Youactually put the oven on the hot coals or even bury it among them. For more heat, hot coals are put overthe lid. It is easy to cook a stew in a Dutch oven - just bury the pot in hot coals in the morning and thestew will be cooked and waiting for you when you trudge back into camp in the evening.

A reflector oven is still another cooking utensil you may wish to buy. Basically this is a small aluminumlean-to. It is placed by the fire with the open front facing the fire. It is a good idea to build a reflectorwall of logs, rocks, or a sheet of aluminum foil on the oppo site side of the fire to capture even moreheat. A good cook can bake just about anything from a blueberry pie to biscuits in a reflector oven.Most reflector ovens are made of light sheet-metal and fold bake just about anything from a blueberrypie to biscuits in a reflector oven can be made from aluminum foil stretched over a frame of green sticks.The way to build it is exactly like a canvas or a green bough lean-to that you would build as anemergency

One thing that frequently perplexes the modern cook accustomed to cooking on a stove wheretemperatures can be regulated, is how to regulate heat. Basically, cooking over a campfire requiresconstant vigilance. You must check the food constantly so as not to overcook it or burn it. Howeverthere is a rough way of determinin the temperature of a fire which may be of some help. Hold your openpalm in the same spot where your pot will be and count - count "one and one, one and two, one andthree," and so on to achieve one-second intervals. If you can only hold your hand there for "one andone" or not even that, you have a fire of over 500' F. If you can hold your hand for two or three seconds,you have a fire of about 450' F, plus or minus ten percent. If you can hold your hand there for four orfive seconds, you have about 375' F plus or minus ten percent; six to eight seconds, 300' F plus orminus ten percent.

Cooking over an open fire is a skill that separates the tyros from the experts. It is something that everyoutdoorsman should learn. One does not have to be a gourmet cook, simply skillful enough to puttogether a hot and nourishing meal. But it has never ceased to amaze me what culinary delights somecampfire cooks can come up with. The old log-drive cooks were like magicians; they could cook anentire meal in two or three Dutch ovens.

Even people who do most of their outdoor cooking over a propane stove may find a basic knowledge ofcampfire cooking useful. Propane and gasoline stoves have been known to break down.CHAPTER 12THE ABC'S OF CANOEING

Every summer thousands of people, particularly young people, discover the simple but rewarding joys ofthe canoe. Canoeing has never been more popular. The rivers of Canada's north, which have not beencanoed since the days of the fur-trading brigades a hundred years ago, are today being paddled regularly.The urge to get away from it all, the canoe seen as a romantic symbol of rivers flowing free, of wild andunspoiled places, are reasons for the sport's growing popularity.

The canoe is a highly versatile craft. It can be paddled, poled, and some can even be rowed. It can besailed or propelled by an outboard motor mounted on a side-bracket or a square-stern. It call be quite atricky craft requiring an expert hand, or, by clamping on outrigger pontoons, it can be transformed into aboat that is safe enough for young children to handle.

CHOOSING A CANOE

Basically, choosing a canoe boils down to three things: the design of the canoe (this means the type ofcanoe as well as its various features), the length or size of the canoe, and the material from which thecanoe is constructed. The purpose of the canoe largely determines its type and size. On the other hand,the choice of construction material depends largely on the qualities desired and, of course, personalpreferences.

The standard canoe of today is a double-ender, with the ends lower and the floor flatter than the canoe ofyesteryear. The flatter floor makes it more stable with a good load capacity, yet one that paddles andhandles well. The lower ends allow it to catch less wind. Another basic canoe is the squarestem. Thistype of canoe is preferable to the double-ender if an outboard motor is to be used a great deal. There aretwo types of square-sterns. In the more common one, the entire stern is vertical or square. The othertype, frequently referred to as the Y-stern, flares up to form a vertical stem only above the water line.The paddling qualities of the square-stern are inferior to those of the double-ender, particularly in fastwater. But in the case of the Y-stern, the sharpness of the stem is preserved under water, hence itpaddles as well as the true double-ender. Its only handicap is that the transom can accommodate only asmall motor - a three horse power probably being the safe limit, while the more common type of square-stem can accommodate a much larger motor, even a twenty horse power on a big freighter canoe.

There are two other basic types of canoes. The racing canoe, designed for competitive sport, is a longlean craft. It is available in various lengths, some as long as twenty-four feet with a very narrow beamof twenty-six inches or less. There are also canoes with kayak-like characteristics, again narrow-beamed.These are usually decked, have cockpits, and come in various sizes. Their principal use is in rivertouring. They have a limited load capacity and hence are not really the best choice for extended campingtrips into the wilderness. However, with ultra-light camping gear, they can be used.

There are other specialized canoes such as the wide-beamed Sportspal, which is designed principallywith stability in mind. Such a craft is useful for fishermen and hunters who want a light and verystable canoe with a shallow draft. This canoe is a poor choice for fast water because it is difficult topaddle. Its shallow draft also makes it difficult to control in high winds. In spite of its poor paddlingquality, the Sportspal can be rowed with c ' reat success, and indeed the manufacturer equips it with oar-locks and oars. Another specialized canoe is the ultra-light miniature. At one time these were madeentirely of cedar planking by the pioneer canoe enthusiast, Henry Rushton. One of the more famousRushton canoes was the Nessmuk, a mere ten-footer weighing fifteen pounds, nine-and-a-half ounces,and named after the pioneer canoeist and wilderness writer, George Washington Sears, better known byhis pen name Nessmuk. Today, the Old Town Canoe Company has introduced a fiberglass version of theNessmuk. This new craft is ten feet long and weighs eighteen-and-a-half pounds. This is a great canoefor a man who wants to follow Nessmuk's bidding and travel alone into the wilderness. The expertcanoeist will find the modem Nessmuk a real fun canoe, a pure joy to handle.

Most canoes today have keels. The keel has some important advantages. It tends to stiffen the hull andsaves wear on the canoe bottom. For paddling in lakes and slow rivers, the keel helps to keep a straightcourse. But for river travel where white water is likely to be encountered, a keel is a handicap. A keel-less canoe is much more maneuverable. It responds to paddle strokes much more quickly. making iteasier to avoid rocks and other obstructions. Hence the choice of a canoe with or without a keel dependslargely on where the craft will be used.

Canoes have been made of various types of materials from Indian birch bark to thin cedar planking,pressed paper, rubber, canvas-covered wood, and, of course, in the last twenty years, of aluminum andfiberglass. Today canoes are made only of canvas-covered wood., aluminum, and fiberglass and eventhe canvas has been replaced by synthetic fabrics. Indeed, aluminum and fiberglass are probably nowmore popular than wood and fabric. The main reason for this is that aluminum and fiberglass lendthemselves better to assembly-line production than wood and canvas, which makes them cheaper at theretail level.

The best construction material for canoes is a controversial topic among canoe buffs. The reason is thatevery material has its advantages and disadvantages. Also, every canoe buff has his own prejudices andpreferences. Wood and fabric canoes are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than aluminum or evenfiberglass. They are much easier to repair than aluminum, or perhaps even fiberglass. This can be a veryimportant consideration on a wilderness canoe trip. Wood is also much quieter than aluminum and alittle quieter than fiberglass. Wood and fabric require no built-in flotation chambers to keep the canoeafloat in case it overturns. However, wood is expensive and requires maintenance. A sixteenfoot canoe(wood and fabric) can cost up to a hundred dollars more than a fiberglass or aluminum canoe of thesame length. The wood also has to be varnished and, if it is canvas-covered, the canvas must be painted.

Fiberglass is less noisy than aluminum. Also it stays cooler than aluminum in the hot summer sun. Likethe wood canoe, fiberglass tends to be more elastic than aluminum and usually will take a harder blowwithout puncturing. Some canoe buffs claim that fiberglass is smoother - that it slides off underwaterrocks more easily than aluminum or fabric. Fiberglass is, of course, largely maintenance free andreasonably easy to patch in the case of punctures. The real disadvantage of fiberglass is that it is fairlyheavy, but it is impossible to make a fiberglass canoe that is as light as aluminum and at the same timeas sturdy.

Aluminum canoes are also maintenance free, certainly in fresh water. They are fairly rugged, althoughthey may dent. It is perhaps for this reason that many canoe liveries use aluminum canoes. Aluminumcanoes can be made fairly light with good carrying capacities, hence many canoe trippers preferaluminum. But aluminum canoes are generally both noisy and hot.

Next to construction material, canoe size is the most problematical aspect for the novice. For two-mancanoe trips of several days to several weeks, nothing under sixteen feet is recommended and a seventeen-footer is even better. Although either size will accommodate two people plus their gear, the shortercanoe may ride too low in the water for easy paddling. If such a canoe is selected carefully, it is stilllight enough to be portaged by one man and can be cartopped fairly easily.

The small canoes - up to twelve feet - are usually one-man canoes. Because they are easy to car-top, theyare popular with fishermen and hunters. Generally speaking, the small canoes are less stable andtherefore less safe in the hands of anyone less than an expert. The only exception to this is the wide-beamed Sportspal which, because of its wide beam, will accommodate two men and has great stability.

Canoes of an intermediate length - fourteen or fifteen feet are usually chosen by the novice who believesthat the full-sized canoes are too long for him. However, the intermediate canoes are too long for oneman and for a long canoe trip, too short for two men plus all their gear, as the canoe will probably ridetoo low in the water for easy paddling. A good rule to follow when trying to decide on what length ofcanoe is: when in doubt, buy the next longest size.

Canoes much longer than eighteen feet are more difficult to cartop and are harder to portage, particularlywhere the portages are steep and winding. But of course such canoes have amazing stability, and evenwhen fully loaded, don't draw much water. The giant Rupert House canoes are rarely used for recreation.The only place they are seen regularly is in Canada's far north. These twenty-four-foot squaresterns arestill the main means of transportation for the Indians around the Hudson Bay coast.

CHOOSING A PADDLE

Choosing a paddle is not at all difficult. Length is one important consideration. The voyageurs of oldrecommended that the bowman's paddle should reach from the ground to his chin, while the stern man'sshould go from the ground to his eyes. The modern canoe tripper is unlikely to choose paddles ofdifferent lengths. A compromise length from the ground to the nose is a good bet. The blade should notbe wider than four and a half to five inches.

Paddles can be made of several different woods. For rapids and shallow water, hardwoods such as ash,hard maple, and yellow birch are best. These woods can take a fair amount of punishment on rocks,sand, and gravel. Of these, maple is the poorest choice because it has a tendency to warp. Don't leavewet paddles in strong, direct sunlight to dry. This promotes warping and even splitting. For deep, openwater, spruce paddles are excellent. They are light and very strong for their weight. Spruce is also thebest choice for women or young boys.

LOADING, LAUNCHING, AND LANDING

Loading a canoe is a chore that should be planned a little ahead of time. It is a good idea to carryeverything to the water's edge and then systematically load the canoe. If waves are likely to beencountered, the load should be moved a little aft. If the bow is a bit overweight, it will ride up slowlywith the waves and a wave may come in and hit it before it goes up.

Aluminum and fiberglass canoes are easier to load because one can load them from a beach by partiallydragging them on shore. The main thing is to balance the load by distributing it as evenly as possible.This takes very little ability, only a dash of common sense. A canvas canoe must be loaded while it isentirely afloat. either parallel or at right angles to shore. If there is any chance of encountering roughwater, it is a good idea to lash the bundles to the thwarts. Or, a line can be run on the inside of the canoearound each thwart and the gear can be attached to this line with snap swivels. Should the canoe swampor overturn, valuable gear will not be lost.

Another good idea with rough weather in mind is to put some light poles on the bottom of the canoe andpile the load onto the poles. This will ensure that the gear does not get wet from the bottom due to anywater that splashes in. A tarpaulin can be used to cover or wrap the entire load or the important portionof it to keep it dry from the top. When packing, remember that the spare paddle must always be on topand within easy reach, in case it is needed in an emergency. When you see a loaded canoe with the sparepaddle buried on the bottom, you know that a couple of greenhorns are off on their first trip. If one ofthem snaps his paddle on a boulder in white water, he will need that spare paddle fast. But that is oneway to learn.

Launching a canoe must be done with specific water conditions in mind. Generally it is best to launch itstern first, but on a stormy lake or in rapids this may be dangerous. Launching a canoe stern first has theadvantage of the sternman's being in place to steer the canoe immediately; he often does all the steering.The canoe should be launched approximately at a right angle to shore. The sternman should get in evenif the canoe is only half afloat. His weight will bring the bow up. Then he can back the canoe out so thatthe bow is in water deep enough to float even when the bowman gets in. The bowman now takes hold ofthe bow, puts one foot into the canoe, and shoves off with the other. With a bit of experience, thismaneuver can be done without getting the feet wet or scraping the canoe. A canvas canoe should neverbe scraped. Actually, it is unwise to scrape even an aluminum or fiberglass canoe.

One of the key things to remember is to select a good launching spot before you load your canoe. It isvery embarrassing to have your bowman leap in, only to have the canoe hang up on a rock because ofthe weight. When you see canoeists pushing with their paddles to get off, you know that you are lookingat tyros.

Landing a canoe is like launching a canoe in reverse. An unfamiliar landing site should always beapproached with caution. There are times when a bowman may have to jump out if shallows come upsuddenly. It is the bowman's responsibility to watch for boulders and shallows. An aluminum canoe canbe run up onto a beach of very fine sand by fast paddling and the sternman bending aft to raise the bow.This will not hurt the canoe, but it should never be attempted with a canvas canoe.

PADDLING A CANOE

There are many strokes that can be used to paddle a canoe. The choice of which stroke to use dependslargely on what the canoeist wants to achieve. It also depends on the number of paddlers and theirposition, but for all practical purposes a canoeist needs to know only about four or five strokes to paddlea canoe satisfactorily.

The bowman always sets the paddling pace, but the sternman has the choice of sides because he has tosteer as well as paddle, and it is only natural that he steer on the side which is more comfortable for him.In most cases the sternman should be the more experienced canoeist. In rapids, the bowman must choosewhere to go because he is in front and in a better position to see.

Normally the sternman and bowman sit, but in white water or rough water they should kneel in order tolower the center of gravity. On launching a canoe or landing, the sternman should also kneel. FrenchCanadian voyageurs and Indians always knelt in their canoes, but their leg muscles were used to thisform of exercise. Most of us find kneeling to be an uncomfortable position for long periods. Both thesternman and bowman should have at a moment's notice something soft to kneel on.

It is, of course, the position of the stern seat - set closer to the stern than the bow seat is to the bow - thatgives the stern man the steering advantage. The aft position allows the stem paddler to pivot the canoe atits midpoint more easily. To change positions, it is best to land the canoe first. It can be done on waterbut it takes a little practice. On signal, the sternman kneels and leans forward. The bowman then backsup, crouching and holding onto the gunnels until he reaches the kneeling sternman. The sternman slidesbetween the legs of the bowman and moves forward. The bowman then takes his new position in thestern and the sternman moves up to the bow. This maneuver is harder to execute with baggage, but it issafer then because a loaded canoe is more stable.

The Bow Stroke This is the most elementary stroke. It is simple and natural. The trick is not to make ittoo long. Let us assume that the paddle swings through a hundred-and-eighty-degree arc from the time itis dipped into the water until it is withdrawn. For the first ninety degrees, the paddle is deepest in thewater. As it rides up during the other ninety degrees, it lifts water instead of pulling at it. It is no longercontributing much to propelling the canoe forward, but your muscles are working as hard, so take theblade out of the water as it passes your hip. The stroke may not look graceful - it is short and choppy -but it will be much more efficient and less tiring than a longer stroke. It will also allow you to paddlefaster. The riverine tribes of Africa use this stroke to great effect in their dugout canoes.

The paddle should act as a lever, with the lower hand being the fulcrum. The trick is to use not only yourarms, but to use some of your body weight from the shoulder and arm as well, by leaning in a little. Thisis done by keeping the upper arm stiff for a fraction of a second as you make the stroke. The bow strokeis used solely to propel the canoe, but it is not used only in the bow position.

The Quarter-Sweep Stroke This stroke is used by the bowman to help turn the canoe faster than thesternman could turn it alone. Of course, it should be done only at the sternman's request. The bowmanleans forward stretching his arms, and sweeps the paddle in an arc , back until it is at right angles to thecraft. The quartersweep is much more effective from a kneeling position because the sweep beginsfurther forward. If a really tight turn is needed, the sternman will do a reverse sweep on the opposite side.

Bow Draw This stroke is used to make the canoe turn or change direction sharply. The paddler simplydips the blade fully in the water and pulls it towards the canoe. This draws the canoe towards the paddle.The paddle is lifted straight up for the next stroke. With this simple stroke, a canoe can be movedsideways very quickly and easily.

Sculling Draw This stroke is simply a figure eight under water. The lower arm and hand must do most ofthe pushing and pulling, while the upper hand and arm act as a pivot. This is a very useful stroke in fastwater where it is unwise to lift the paddle out of the water.

Rudder Stroke This stroke is not actually a stroke because the paddle is not used to pull the canoe. It issimply a steering stroke where the blade is rotated from side to side to steer the canoe.

Pitch Stroke This is one of the most useful strokes for the lone canoeist. -The angle of the stroke - itspitch - changes gradually as the stroke is carried out. It is also used by the sternman instead of the bowstroke which would overpower the canoe.

The key element of a pitch stroke is wrist action. The same sweep is used as with the bow stroke, but thewrist is rolled outward. Also, the upper hand is rolled out toward the gunnel, In this way, the canoe willmove in a straightforward direction. If the bow tends to wander a little in one direction, the paddler cancompensate by pushing out the blade and by moving the upper arm towards himself.

Fishhook Stroke This stroke is easy to teach, but that is its only virtue. The experienced single paddlersoon learns that the pitch stroke is much more efficient in propelling the canoe forward in a straightcourse. The fishhook stroke resembles the letter J, and indeed it is at times called the "J" stroke. It isbegun like a bow stroke, but this forces the bow of the canoe off the straight course. Thus the paddlercompensates by pushing over or doing the draw stroke at the end of the bow stroke to get the canoe onits forward direction again.

The fishhook stroke makes the canoe move in a zig-zag fashion. But since the paddler must in onemotion carry out two strokes, he uses up twice as much energy. The pitch stroke accomplishes the samething but more efficiently. It is, of course, harder to learn.

Indian Stroke This stroke is sometimes called the hunting stroke because it is meant to be done silently.It is simply a pitch stroke in which the paddle blade is never lifted out of the water, but simply knifedforward on its edge. It is this feature that makes it quiet. There is no splash of blade being lifted out, orinserted into the water and there is no water dripping from the blade.

However, this stroke is quiet only when done slowly. When it, and particularly the forward knifing ofthe blade, are done quickly, the paddle makes a high-pitched whirring noise that alarms wildlife atsurprisingly great distances. Knife the blade through the water slowly and the stroke will be quiet. TheIndian stroke is also useful in stormy weather because the paddle can be kept in the water at all times.

The essentials of canoeing consist of loading, launching, unloading, and paddling the canoe. Other skillssuch as running rapids, coping with wind and waves, lining a canoe down the rapids, or tracking it uprapids are all frosting on the cake. They come with experience. Reading up on the subject may help, butno book can tell a canoeist how to run rapids, because so much depends on a man's reflexes, his abilityto make split-second decisions, and even his cool thinking.

There is really only one way to become a good canoeist, and that is to go out and paddle a canoe.

CHAPTER 13ARCHERY FOR THE OUTDOORSMAN

Bows are ancient. Archeological evidence indicates that bows were in use fifty thousand years ago andperhaps even earlier. Paintings in Spanish caves dating back twenty thousand years show hunters armedwith bows stalking the big game of Europe. When a modern archer draws his bow, he is participating ina sport of ancient lineage. It was only a matter of time until the bow, a weapon of the chase, also becamea weapon of war. The English, with their long bows, were great archers. The Japanese, Turks, Scythians,and Genghis Khan's Mongols were all skilled bowmen. North American Indians were good archers aswell.

Gunpowder and improvements in firearms brought about a decline in the use of bows and arrows bothfor hunting and warfare. Firearms became more efficient and easier to use. However, at the turn of thiscentury, archery began to enjoy a revival. By the 1950's archery had become a minor but serious sport.My comments here will be restricted to hunting with a bow; target archery is a competitive sport ratherthan an outdoor pastime.

There is no doubt that hunting with a bow places limitations on the hunter that do not exist when he isarmed with a rifle. But there is an added challenge, an added thrill to using this ancient weapon. Formany people bow hunting adds a new dimension and meaning to the hunt.

Today, archers enjoy privileges that gun hunters do not have. They may hunt in areas where thedischarge of firearms is illegal and usually they are allowed a much longer hunting season because thebow is regarded as an inefficient way of bagging game. Modem archery is not particularly expensive. Anovice will find that $40 worth of equipment is ample for learning the sport. A bow hunter after biggame can be well equipped for $150.

The beginning archer will find that drawing, holding, and releasing an arrow demand good physicalcondition. However, strength alone is not enough without good muscle tone. Almost any exercise thatstretches and strengthens the upper body muscles will be beneficial. The advice of Saxton Pope, thefather of modem archery, is hard to beat. "Begin with a light bow and work up to the heavier weights asrapidly as possible. Do not shoot too much at first. Muscles will strengthen very rapidly if given achance, but if they get tender and sore, you will have to quit until they recover."

THE BOW

Wood is the traditional material for bows. However, bone, bamboo, sinew, and leather have all beenused, together or separately. Yew, osage, and lemonwood are regarded as the best woods for bows.Today fiberglass has become an important material in bow making. Bows made entirely of fiberglass arevirtually indestructible.

Bows have been made of a variety of materials including bone, bamboo, sinew, leather, wood, andfiberglass. Today, wood-fiberglass laminates are the most popular.

However, bows made of wood-fiberglass laminate are preferred by most archers.

Bows come in three styles - recurved, straight, and semi-recurved. The extra bends on the tip of arecurved bow give it added power and make the bow easier to draw. Recurved bows of wood-fiberglasslaminate are the best all-around bet. This type of bow provides the best combination of cast, speed, andstability.

The basic parts of the bow include the upper and lower limbs, the handle section, and the bow string.The handle section has the grip, the sight window, and the arrow rest.

Bow strings are now made of strands of dacron. Each bow string has a "serving" directly across thehandle. The serving area has a tightly wound thread around it to protect the bow string from fraying. Onthe serving is a nocking point, the place where the archer nocks the arrow on the bow string. Thenocking point is always located slightly above a perpendicular line from the arrow rest to the bow string.

By far the most important consideration in the beginner's bow is the matter of weight. Bow makersclassify their weapons according to the number of pounds of energy required to draw a twentyeight-incharrow. The twentyeight-inch standard is used because the average adult male, properly fitted, usesarrows measuring twentyeight inches in length. When an archer says his bow weighs thirtysix pounds,he means that it takes that much energy to pull a twentyeight-inch arrow all the way back. If an archer isan average-sized woman or a small man, the arrows will be shorter, probably twentysix inches. Here thearcher using a thirty-six-pound bow would not really be pulling thirty-six pounds, but his bow is stillreferred to as a thirty-sixpounder.

The average sized male beginner should start with a bow drawing between thirty and forty pounds, andthe closer to thirty pounds the better. For a woman or a boy, fifteen to twenty-five pounds would be abetter choice. With such a bow, muscles can be conditioned without strain and the bowman canconcentrate on more important matters, besides being able to practise more without tiring. The bowshould feel comfortable in the hand, with a full grip. It should be smooth on the draw with a uniformpressure when the string is pulled back and it should be smooth when the arrow is released, without anyshocking recoil.

It is important to maintain the proper distance from the bow handle to the serving. This distance is calledthe fistmele and it is approximately equal to the distance between the bottom of the hand and theoutstretched thumb. It can be adjusted by twisting the bow string prior to stringing the bow.

THE ARROW

The arrow is in some ways more important than the bow. It is possible to become a consistent shot witha relatively poor bow if you have good arrows. The reverse is much more difficult. The length and spineare the two major characteristics of an arrow. The length of the arrow is chosen to match the archer. Thefigure below illustrates how this is done. The arrow length is measured from the base of the pyle, orpoint, to the bottom of the nock. The length of a broadhead hunting arrow is measured from a pointthree-quarters of an inch in front of the base of the broadhead to the bottom of the nock. If a choice hasto be made between arrows that are a little too short and those that are a little too long, it is wise to takearrows that are a little on the long side.

The spine of an arrow refers to the flexibility of the shaft. The arrow must bend as it passes across thebow. If the arrow has too much spine or not enough, the bow will shoot to the right or the left. Bettergrades of arrows are matched for weight and spine. They are also matched for the range of bow weightsfor which they are recommended. Wood, fiberglass, or aluminum are three standard materials fromwhich arrows are made. Wooden shafts are less expensive than fiberglass or aluminum. They aresuitable for both hunting and target shooting. They are better for a novice because the tyro archer willdamage and lose more arrows than the experienced bowman.

In many ways the arrow is more important than the bow for consistent accuracy.

Fiberglass arrows are preferred for hunting because of their ruggedness and durability. Aluminumarrows are preferred for target shooting because they are lighter in weight for a given stiffness in spine.For this reason, they tend to be more precise.

It is advisable for a bow hunter to obtain a matched set of arrow shafts. The target, field, and broadhead(arrowhead) should be matched for weight. In this way the balance and weight of arrows are constantduring practice and hunting.

The more common types of points used are illustrated below. The broadheads - hunting points - areabout three inches long and one-and-aquarter inches wide, made of tempered steel. They can have two,three, or four cutting edges which must be honed to razor sharpness to insure proper killing efficiency.There is another type of arrowhead called the blunt. This has a flat face. It is a hunting point for smallgame who are killed by the shock of the arrow on impact.

Arrow shafts are made of wood, fiberglass, and aluminum. Arrows come with a variety of points such asthe target, field, fish, and several styles of broadheads.

There is also a special arrow called the "flu-flu" designed solely for wing shooting. It is fletched with afluffy cluster of feathers. This arrow is designed to fly short distances accurately. The head on a flu-fluis designed to transmit shock as well as to cut and penetrate. Shooting game birds on the wing is a sportonly for the most skillful of archers.

ACCESSORIES

Bow strings. The best bow strings today are made of dacronpolyester fibers. The novice should buyready-made strings of suitable length for the length and weight of his bow. Some experienced archersprefer to make their own bow strings. String-making kits can be purchased. Incidentally, the bow isalways unstrung when not in use.

Gloves, tips, and finger tabs are three types of protective devices for the fingers of the string hand.Leather finger tips are the most popular, but all three devices are used. They are relatively inexpensiveso it is advisable for the beginner to try all three to see which one he prefers and with which he shootsbest. The important thing is to make certain that these devices fit well and cause no discomfort.

Arm guards come in two styles. One is a sort of strip guard reinforced with a steel stay and is strappedaround the forearm. The other is a leather sleeve which opens under spring tension when it is slippedover the forearm. Both styles are used for hunting and for target shooting. Arm guards are used becausea bow string repeatedly slapping the wrist will cause flinching and hence poor release.

Quivers come in several styles - a belt quiver, a plastic bow quiver which attaches to the bow andsupposedly has the arrows ready for a quick shot, and a leather-pouch type of quiver which is wornacross the back. Again, experience will dictate your preference.

Clothing for archers should be comfortable, soft, and of camouflaged material. The archer needs all thehelp he can get in stalking within fifty yards or less - dependable shooting range.

Archery requires patience and perseverance, not only when hunting but also to become a reasonablygood marksman. Generally bow hunters are above average woodsmen. They have to be, or they will notbe successful. I have also noticed that among bow hunters there are few poor sportsmen. The disciplinerequired for archery keeps the less desirable types away from this sport.

CHAPTER 14SNOWSHOES AND SNOWSHOEING

I stopped and looked down over the snow-covered valley. The sun, just rising over the far ridge, hurledits javelins of light onto the snow. It would be a fine day for snowshoeing; a fine day for getting the deskkinks out of my legs. As I tugged at the bindings on my feet to make certain they were secure and hadnot loosened, I thought of the anthropological heritage of the webbed foot.

In the forested northern regions of the world, the discovery of the snowshoe must rank higher inimportance than the discovery of the wheel. The snowshoe made permanent settlement of the northernboreal regions feasible and less precarious. It made it possible for Man to expand and inhabit areaswhere the snow depth presented an impossible barrier to successful hunting and food gathering.

Snowshoes and skis share ancient common origins. They were first used by the hunting peoples ofcentral Siberia around 4000 B.C. The first instruments were neither snowshoes nor skis as we knowthem, but rather snowshoeskis of short, light planks. It is difficult to know when they diverged, formingthe webbed foot and the slim ski. But the snowshoe as we know it had its greatest development on thiscontinent, while the ski developed in the Old World.

The ancestors of our present-day Indians brought the snowshoe with them when they crossed fromSiberia into Alaska. Without snowshoes, the southward expansion through Alaska would have beendifficult. Similarly, without snowshoes, the Athabaskan and Algonquin Indians would not have beenable to expand into the northern forested zones of this continent. Before the coming of the horse, theIndian tribes of the northern prairies depended heavily on winter hunts for buffalo. In deep snow, thebison were very vulnerable to men on snowshoes, who could navigate in the deep snow.

The European settlers, notably the French, quickly learned the value and use of snowshoes. The French-Canadian fondness for snowshoes exists to this day. It is doubtful if the northern portions of thiscontinent would have been explored and settled by Europeans as rapidly as they were without thesnowshoe. The canoe was the principal mode of travel of the early explorers, but they came for onething - furs. Without the snowshoe, trapping would have been difficult. Without fur, there would havebeen no incentive to explore.

Snowshoes are as indispensable to the modern trapper today as they were to the Indian trappers andcoureurs de bois of old. Every time an outdoorsman dons a pair of snowshoes, he relives this ancient andhonorable lineage. His motivation may be different - just a bit of exercise and a lungful of frosty forestair - but an umbilical cord still binds him to the past. The snowshoeing clubs of Quebec still cling to thetraditional clothing of the early colonists and coureurs de bois on their outings. Traditions die hard.

SELECTING SNOWSHOES

There are essentially five basic styles or shapes of snowshoes. Understandably they have manyvariations and their names depend on where they are used.

The Algonquin Style This is the most versatile and useful type of snowshoe, and also the most popular.It is sometimes called the Maine or Michigan model. The shape is a classical teardrop with a fairly longtail. The long tail serves to make the snowshoes track in a straight line. It also makes these snowshoes abit tail-heavy, which helps in keeping the snowshoe's toe up. The Algonquin is the best all-aroundchoice. It is ideal for semi-open forests, but can also be used effectively in heavy bush. It is a good trailsnowshoe.

The Pickerel Type This snowshoe is similar to the Algonquin type, except that it is much longer andnarrower and has a marked upturned toe. This snowshoe is sometimes called the Alaskan, the Yukon, orthe Western model. These snowshoes are fairly big and ponderous, but they are very stable with notendency to slip sideways. The distinctively upturned toes make it difficult for this snowshoe to catchunder a crust or on soft snow. The pickerel is an ideal snowshoe for flat terrain and open woods whereno fast turns will be needed. Because of its stability, it is a good snowshoe for a very big and heavy man.It is a very poor snowshoe for thick forest.

The Ojibway Type This is a fairly long snowshoe, characterized by a pointed toe or tip, because theframe is made of two pieces of wood joined at the toe and tail. This snowshoe is the easiest to make. Thetwo-piece frame does not require the special steaming to bend the wood that is needed for one-piecesnowshoes.

The tip on Ojibway snowshoes is also upturned or flared dramatically. This pointed tip has theadvantage of cutting through snow and has no tendency to fill up with snow. It is probable thatsnowshoes of this style were common among the Indians because of their simpler construction.

The Bear Paw Type This is a "rounded" snowshoe with a broad toe and no tail. The toe is fairly flat. Thebear paw is a snowshoe for thick forests, where the snowshoer has to make fast turns around obstacles.Bear paws have a tendency to slip sideways. Because of its wide diameter, it is not particularly good forhilly country.

The Beaver Tail Type This is an oval-shaped snowshoe with no tail, and looks like an elongated bearpaw. Its tip is upturned slightly. This snowshoe is frequently called the modified bear paw, the Westoverbear paw, or the otter paw. It is a good choice for heavily forested country and, because of its narrowerwidth, it is also a good choice for hilly country. The beavertail is a very versatile snowshoe.

SNOWSHOE CONSTRUCTION

Snowshoes are made of wood with rawhide or synthetic webbing, or of plastic or metal with rawhide orsynthetic webbing. All of these materials have their advantages and their weak points. My preference isfor. the wooden frame. My reasons are probably emotional, at least in part. Wooden frames aretraditional. They also require a fair amount of hand labor to make, and in our mechanized age, a man'sskill with his hands is something that is rare and should be valued. Wooden snowshoes cannot be massproduced like pieces of plastic.

However, wooden snowshoes require some care. They must be varnished periodically. They should notbe exposed to sudden heat, such as the back of the stove, lest they warp. And because hand labor andeven wood are costly, wooden snowshoes are more expensive. Good wooden snowshoes cost about $35.Plastic snowshoes are products of today's technology. Generally they are made of polypropylene and arecast in one piece. Aesthetically they leave me cold. Some of the earlier models of plastic snowshoeswere slippery on crusted ice, but this has been largely corrected. Most of the plastic snowshoes aredesigned along the bearpaw style, which gives them a tendency to slip sideways. The big advantage ofplastic snowshoes is their low price - about $15. They are a good choice for snowmobilers as emergencyequipment.

Snowshoes with tubular aluminum frames or even magnesium frames are also available. Aluminumframes have the webbing stamped out of one piece of rawhide, while magnesium frames have webbingof nylon covered cable. Magnesium framed snowshoes are widely used by the military because of theirdurability. Army people claim that they are virtually indestructible. Aluminum framed snowshoes areextremely light. Many snowshoers like them because of this.

Rawhide, dried untanned hide from which the hair has been scraped, is the traditional babiche orwebbing for snowshoes. But it is seldom used today. It is harder to obtain and, being a natural product, itis not all that durable. Rawhide rots and deteriorates. Rodents like to chew on it as well. I understandthat beaver skins make the best snowshoe rawhide, but moose hides and bear and seal skins are alsogood. Cowhide, of course, was used most often. The rawhide babiche had to be shellacked or varnishedregularly to protect it from moisture.

The webbing on modern wooden snowshoes is usually of a synthetic fiber. Nylon fabric with a densecoating of neoprene is generally considered best. The synthetics are superior to rawhide. They are lighterand tougher, they do not rot, and mice do not eat them. Also, once they are stretched tight on a frame,they will not slacken if they get wet. Some of the synthetics look very much like rawhide at first glance.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The best wood for snowshoes is white ash. The snowshoe frame should have no knots in it or otherdefects, and the grain should run straight. The crossbars on the snowshoe should be mortised into theframe tightly and neatly. There should be no sharp edges anywhere that could cut the babiche with useand time.

On snowshoes with metal frames, the bends should be smooth and even. If there are welded joints, besure that they are sound and neat in appearance. This is an indication of conscientious workmanship andtight production standards.

The babiche, natural or synthetic, should be tight. The webbing in the middle third of the snowshoe,between the crossbar, should be fairly coarse in diameter. This is where the bulk of your weight will be,so it must be strong. Pay particular attention to the toe guard running just below the toe hole. It takes upmuch of the shock. The webbing on the toe and heel is generally lighter, made of finer strands.

Many experienced snowshoers have their favorite weave patterns and styles. The coarser weaves arebetter for dense or crusted snow, while finer mesh is better for loose and soft snow. However, this sort ofrefinement need not concern you, as most snowshoes today have some sort of "all-purpose" mesh for allkinds of snowshoeing conditions. This is fine for most of us because essentially it is a compromise. But Ican see that for snowshoe races one would want the best mesh for the prevailing snow conditions.

The toe hole is an important feature in comfortable snowshoeing. As you snowshoe, the front of yourfoot should be able to move in and out of the toe hole with each step. Make sure that the hole is wideand long enough for the boots or moccasins you will be using.

The weight of the snowshoes is important. Lighter snowshoes are easier to walk in, more comfortable,and less exhausting, but do not sacrifice lightness for durability. There is a compromise here.

The weight of the snowshoer is also an important consideration in selecting snowshoes. The followingtable will serve as a guide to matching the weight of the snowshoer to the right size of snowshoes.

HARNESSES

There are several different harnesses available on the market. The problem with harnesses is that aharness of one design is not equally suitable for every type of terrain. I have tried at least five or sixdifferent types but I have yet to find one that is good for all snowshoeing conditions.

The most common binding, and the one I frequently use, is a combination of a wide toe strap, a straparound the heel, and a strap over the instep. All of these straps have individual buckles for tighteningand adjusting. There are a number of variations of this type of harness. Of the commercially madeharnesses, this type is the best.

The old-time trappers and woodsmen used nothing but a length of lampwick which went around the heeland a piece of leather band for the toes. This is surprisingly effective, although you have to getaccustomed to it. Of course, today you have to go far into the bush to find coiled lampwick that you canbuy by the yard, but nylon webbing works just as well, even if it is not quite as romantic.

One of the most effective snowshoe harnesses is made from the inner tubing of tires. There are two typesof these "homemadeharnesses. One simply consists of a wide leather toe strap with a strong rubber bandcut circularly from a heavy truck tire tube to serve as the heel strap. To put it on, you simply insert thetoe of your boot under the toe strap and stretch the band over your heel and under the toe of your boot,but across the leather toe strap.

The big advantage of this type of harness, aside from its low cost.is that you can slide out of yoursnowshoes with a twist of your boot This is a good safety feature when you have to cross ice. Manytrappers and woods workers use this type of harness solely because of this. I may, indeed, owe my life tothis type of homemade harness.

Some years ago when a Cree Indian trapper, whose trapline I was inspecting, broke his back andsuffered severe chest injuries, I took off to get medical help. To make time, I recklessly crossed lakesand swamps that I would most certainly have avoided under normal circumstances. My foolhardinesswas exactly that. When crossing a wide beaver pond, I broke through the ice. The fact that I was able totwist my snowshoes off quickly saved my life. After drying myself off by a big fire, I was able toretrieve my snowshoes (which had floated up) with a long pole and so continued my mission of mercy.The trapper, incidentally, survived.

Another type of tube harness and a more sophisticated one is made entirely out of an inner tube,including the toe strap. This is an excellent harness, particularly when made from heavy gauge truck-tireinner tubes. The accompanying diagram shows how this harness can be made. A snowshoe with thisharness is just as fast to get off your foot as the one I was wearing during my mishap, but this harness issuperior, particularly when hills have to be climbed.FOOTWEAR

Choosing the right kind of footwear for snowshoeing ranks close in importance to selecting the rightsnowshoe. High Indian moccasin, are hard to beat. The main reason for this is that they lack heels and.ideally, footwear for snowshoeing should not have heels.

All kinds of footwear have been tried and used by snowshoers insulated rubber boots, packs with rubberbottoms and leather tippers, and even rubber overshoes. The best of these contemporary types offootwear are snowmobile boots. Their felt linings are warm and allow for the toe strap to be welltightened without creating a discomfort for the toes. However, their big advantage is the lack of heels onmost snowmobile boots, particularly the economy priced boots. No doubt the reason why these bootslack good solid heels is because the designers do not expect the users to do much walking.

OUTER GARMENTS

There is no "best" clothing for snowshoeing. The type of weather expected dictates the type of clothing.I prefer to wear clothes in layers so that I can take off extra clothing, such as shirts or sweaters. and putthem on as the temperature dictates. Trousers of tightly woven wool are best. I like parkas or anoracksthat are windproof. These can be worn unzipped when the weather turns warm. Two pairs of thin woolsocks are better than one pair of thick socks. The traditional headwear has always been a Quebec toqueof brightly colored wool. The toque may be a bit warm at times, but its serviceability is unquestionable.

OTHER EQUIPMENT

For traveling on slopes over crusty or packed snow, crampon, (spiked, iron plates) are indispensable.They can be taken off and put on like automobile tire chains. Many dedicated snowshoers make theirown crampons, and some of the commercially sold snowshoe harnesses have crampons built in. Inemergencies, when I had to climb steep hills while running compass lines in timber cruising.

I have even lashed short and sharp twigs to the bottom of my snowshoes for better traction.

Some snowshoers use staffs while snowshoeing to help them on hills and to give them better balance.Ski poles make excellent snowshoeing staffs. In hilly country, an ice ax can be very useful, particularlywhen a longer handle is mounted on it with a ski-pole basket attached at the lower end. This implementcan be used as a staff and as an ice ax.

The only other things that snowshoers should carry are: some stout cord, some electrical tape, and afolding knife. Any of these items might be needed to make emergency repairs on snowshoes andharnesses while in the bush.

TIPS ON TRAVEL

Walking on snowshoes is as easy as walking on bare ground. No training period and no practice areneeded. This is one advantage that snowshoes have over crosscountry skis. The beginner, the first timeon snowshoes, will reach surprising proficiency after the first dozen paces. About the only thing aneophyte snowshoer should keep in mind is to remember to pick up his foot and move it over the edgeof the stationary snowshoe, and place it down ahead of the other snowshoe. Snowshoeing does notrequire any sort of cumbersome gait with the feet abnormally far apart.

In breaking trails over new soft snow, the snowshoer should keep the tip of his webs free of snow. Thetoe should ride high. The way to do this is to take shorter steps. Snowshoes with long tails and upturnedtips have a built-in advantage. Sooner or later every snowshoer falls. Generally this happens on slopes orwhen a snowshoe catches on small stubs, fallen saplings, or other debris on the forest floor that lieburied beneath a blanket of snow. A snowshoeing staff or companion is handy at such a time to help youup. But neither is essential. Just make sure your snowshoes are on a horizontal plane and kneel on themto stand up. If you have a staff, you call use it to support yourself. Small trees can sometimes be useful.A companion can give you his hand and pull you up. And in extreme cases, You may have to unbuckleyour harnesses and move your snowshoes under you to form a solid platform.

Snowshoeing up or down hill requires a bit more experience. If the slopes are not steep, you cansnowshoe up normally. Taking a short run, grasping saplings offbrush, or using a staff can all help.Steeper slopes can be traversed by making g diagonal tracks across the slope, just as in cross-country skitouring. The length of the zig-zags will depend on the steepness of the slope. Snowshoes should beedged so that they are on a horizontal plane. This is not as easy as with skis because the snowshoes arewider. However, it is not at all difficult. Certainly the narrower models are better for this.

Making turns on snowshoes is much easier than on skis. You simply move one foot in the direction youwant to turn and swing the other in front of it. The tips of the snowshoes move the greatest distance,while the tails just pivot. To make a sharp turn, one snowshoe is turned 180 degrees, and when it issolidly on the snow, the other is brought around beside it.

Downhill travel can be done in several ways, depending on the steepness of the slope and the length ofthe hill. Harnesses have to be tight for downhill travel so that the toe of the boot will not slide under thecrosspiece on the snowshoe. If this happens, the snowshoer is likely to fall. If the slope is not too steep,you can walk straight down the hill by keeping your body weight slightly back.

The tails of the snowshoes should always be firmly planted first. The steps should be deliberate, almostplanned.

A snowshoeing staff is handy when walking downhill. Trees, saplings, and large brush can also be usedto help you down and to slow your momentum. On hills with no obstructions, one can slide down bysitting or crouching on the back of the snowshoes. The younger snowshoers can also run down hills, andif the dropoff is a short one and the snow is deep and soft, you can even jump. Jumping on snowshoes isfairly easy and, in my opinion, quite safe.

SNOWSHOEING HAZARDSSnowshoeing over ice can be hazardous. However, a man on snowshoes can cross ice that would breakunder the weight of a man walking without snowshoes. After all, the entire working principle ofsnowshoes is that they distribute weight over a wider area.

No one should snowshoe across ice if it is less than two thick. Avoid traveling across inlets where astream flows into a lake. The ice may be thin here because of the current. Boggy pondq can also behazardous because the ice may be soft and spongy due gases. Relatively fast-moving streams are alsohazardous to escaping because of thin ice.

When crossing a lake or pond, loosen your harnesses and use only the boot toe and toe strap to hold yoursnowshoe on. This makes walking on snowshoes a little trickier. You have to take shorter steps and notlift your snowshoes quite as high. But if the ice does give way under you, the snowshoes can be kickedoff instantly. A lone snowshoer should cut a fairly long, slim sapling and carry it by the middle with himwhen crossing lakes or streams. Again. if the ice breaks under you, the sapling will hold you up.

A group of snowshoers should always have a line with them, at least thirty feet long. This line can beattached to the lead man who tests the ice and breaks the trail when crossing a lake or river. Any ice thatdoes not crack is very likely to be solid and safe. Walking across frozen lakes and rivers safely requiresprudence and caution. and a little common sense. Only when a snowshoer is in a hurry or is careless, domishaps occur.

A snowshoer and a ski tourer in mountainous country should be careful of avalanches or snowslides.Generally avalanches occur after a heavy snowfall on the hard old snow of steep slopes, or when there isa spring thaw. Overhanging cornices of snow on concave cliffs also start avalanches when they fall.Generally avalanches are triggered by shock waves of sound, by a traveler on skis, snowshoes. orsnowmobile, or a sudden change in temperature.

Usually in mountain country there are avalanche warnings in the news media, so if you are planning asnowshoeing trip where avalanches occur, listen to news broadcasts. In skiing country, there is a goodnetwork of avalanche warnings. Otherwise use a bit of caution. Snowshoe in areas that are shelteredfrom snowslides.

Snowshoeing is increasing in popularity. It may not be enjoying quite the same sort of boom as skitouring, but more people are snowshoeing today than since the days of old. Snowshoes have someinherent advantages over cross-country skis. First, they are cheaper. Second, cross-country skis are lesssuitable for working or doing something other than ski touring because you have to use ski poles. Insnowshoeing, your hands are free. A snowshoeing staff is not really needed. I very seldom use one. If Ineed one to climb a hill. I cut a handy branch or a sapling. (Of course, cutting a staff would not bepossible in a heavily used winter recreation area, lest the area become devoid of branches and saplings.)

Snowshoes are superior to cross-country skis when traveling in thick bush such as spruce and cedarswamp. They are also superior when a heavy load has to be carried, as well as for ice fishing or hunting.And, of course, snowshoes are easier to use because there is no learning period.

CHAPTER 15THE ABC'S OF SKI TOURING

One of the finest ways to get out-of-doors in the winter is on cross-country skis. Cross-country skitouring has brought a new dimension to the out-of-doors. In just a few years, it has mushroomed intoone of the more popular winter sports. Anyone who loves the out-of-doors in winter will enjoy skitouring.

Cross-country skis are just as silent as snowshoes, but they allow the traveler to move faster and to covermore ground. They are also less fatiguing because they are lighter, and you do not have to lift your feetto move them forward. You can simply slide the ski. Cross-country skis are more graceful thansnowshoes.

Many people who take up ski touring are interested in it as sport in itself, but my interest lies in the factthat it enables me to get out-of-doors more easily and more comfortably than on snowshoes.Photography, wildlife study, and bird watching are all possible on cross-country skis. Winter campingusing light backpacking equipment and freeze-dried foods is also possible. As I am writing this chapter,two friends of mine are making preparations to go on a moose hunt in northern Ontario on cross-countryskis. Norwegian and Finnish hunters use their cross-country skis in winter hunts for ptarmigan, hares.and even caribou. Finnish trappers patrol their traplines not on snowshoes but on cross-country skis.Cross-country ski touring may be relatively new to this continent but, as a sport. it is at least a centuryold, with its roots firmly embedded in the thin soil of the Scandinavian hills and forests. It is certainlyolder than alpine skiing.

Traveling on skis goes back many centuries. Skis were invented by the hunting tribes of Siberia andfrom there spread westward into what is now Scandinavia. The Swedes learned about skis from theFinns and Lapps during the height of the Norsemen era. Skis were used solely as a method of wintertransportation - for hunting and for war.

Military training was the springboard for skis as an object of recreation. By the late eighteenth century,skiing became a sport, but it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that it became popular.Generally Norway is credited as being the cradle of ski touring, and skiing in general. Cross-country skitouring is a far cry from downhill alpine skiing. The techniques are different. The equipment is different.Even the attitudes of ski tourers and downhill skiers are different.

EQUIPMENT

Cross-country skis are longer and narrower than downhill skis. They range from special mountaintourers, which are three inches wide and weigh six pounds, to narrow racing skis that are a mere twoinches wide and weigh three pounds. For general purpose ski touring, a ski of about two-and-a-halfinches is the best bet. Length is determined by the ski tourer's height. To get the right length, raise yourarm straight up over your head and measure from the middle of your hand to the floor. But if you areheavily boned and weigh above average for your height, choose skis in the next length group.

Cross-country skis are made from laminated woods. The better skis have several dozen laminations toprevent warping. The sole of the ski should be of very hard wood, with hickory being the best. Theedges of high-quality skis are reinforced with lingostone. Watch for warpage when buying cross-countryskis. Lay the skis on a straight bare floor to make sure that they are not twisted or warped. Cross-countryskis for general touring cost from $25 to $50.

Boots There are a number of different cross-country ski boots on the market. The main feature thatdistinguishes these from alpine ski boots is their flexibility and light weight. Special skis also requirespecial light and low-cut boots resembling a track shoe. For general ski touring, a full boot is the bestchoice. It is warmer and better at keeping your feet dry. Lightness is an important factor to considerwhen buying boots. Boots made of composition rubber soles vulcanized to the upper parts are the driest.Good, serviceable boots can be purchased for about $20.

Bindings The boots and bindings should be purchased together to ensure that they are compatible. Thereare essentially two styles of bindings - the cable-around-the-heel and the pin. The pin binding isgenerally used for racing and requires a boot in which the soles project forward. The binding is attachedthrough a pair of holes in the sole.

The cable-around-the-heel bindings are used for touring and mountaineering. They require a boot with agroove in the heel. These bindings come in two major styles - the Kandahar and the Tempo. Both havetheir advantages and disadvantages. Tempo is probably the best choice for ski touring, particularly forthe beginner. Good cable-around-the-heel bindings can be purchased for about $12 to $16.

Poles Ski poles are made of cane, fiberglass, and aircraft-alloy tubing. The latter are the lightest andmost expensive. They are also the toughest. Cane poles are still a good choice. They are strong and lightand are the least expensive. Fiberglass poles are also good and cost somewhere between the cane andmetal poles. The basket on cross-country poles should be fairly large, particularly if you intend to travelin forested country where snow might be fluffy and loose. The metal tips on the poles should curveforward and should be very sharp. Poles run from about $8 to $20.

Rucksacks or Knapsacks The cross-country ski tourer will need some sort of lightweight rucksack tocarry a wax kit, some lunch, a tea pot, some extra clothing, and possibly a camera and film. If he isgoing on long tours, replacement tips for the skis will also be needed. Rucksacks can be purchased from$6 to $25 depending on size, quality, and material.

Clothing Ski-touring clothes should be light in weight. If you expect to be moving about constantly, thenthe clothing need not be heavily insulated. The exercise will keep you warm. The thing to avoid is bulkyor loose clothing that may catch on branches and shrubs. You should also avoid clothing that will notbreathe properly and trap all of your perspiration on the inside.Knickers are traditional for cross-country skiing. However, light wool trousers are just as good forgeneral touring, particularly in woods. Such trousers are more versatile, but knickers are good becausethey allow easy movement. A light wool shirt and a sweater are a good combination when used with alight, windproof nylon shell. The choice of undergarments is wide. Fishnet underwear is excellent. Longunderwear will not be needed except in very cold weather.

In cold weather a woollen toque is hard to beat but in mild weather it is probably too warm and willcause your head to sweat. A simple headband is adequate then. A balaclava is needed only for extremelysevere cold such as that encountered in high mountains. Light woollen gloves are ideal for milderweather, if gloves are needed. Woollen mittens are warmer in cold weather and are just as efficient asgloves. The ski tourer should always wear two pairs of socks - a long thick pair of woollen socks on topof a soft pair of cotton socks. If you intend to wear knickers, the socks, of course, must come to the knee.

Anklets and Gaiters Anklets and gaiters are the only specialized clothing needed for ski touring. Ankletsare worn at all times except in deep, soft snow, where gaiters are better because they will keep you drier.Gaiters should have zippers in the backs so that they can be put on after the boots. The base of thegaiters should have nylon drawstrings or leather straps so that they can be tied under the instep of theboot. The best gaiters are made of soft canvas. Anklets should fit snugly around the top of the ankle andaround the boot. They should have elastic for the instep of the boots.

Presuming that one owns a suitable shirt and sweater, the other pieces of clothing for ski touring willcost between $30 and $40. From these costs we can see that one can become well equipped and clothedfor the sport of cross-country skiing for about $100. People on limited budgets could even do it fortwenty-five or thirty percent less. I have seen skis, poles, boots, and bindings sold as sets for $55 insome of the larger department stores.

TECHNIQUES

The first step is to get the feel of the skis on your feet. Move around. Flex your feet. Pick up the skis byraising your feet. Kneel down. Then begin practising the simple step-around turns by lifting one ski andmoving to one side, and then following with the other ski. Coordinate this movement with movements ofyour poles. Practise this backwards. These exercises will help you to become fully relaxed on your skis.

The Diagonal Stride The diagonal stride is the basic maneuver in cross-country ski touring. Beginpractising your stride on level ground, preferably on a trail broken by other skiers. Move out as if youwere walking, sliding your skis at each step. Keep your body straight and erect, and transfer your weightfrom one ski to another in a smooth, rhythmic fashion. All this is easy. A couple of hours of practice willgive you a fair degree of proficiency.

Now, gradually increase your stride by putting more movement into the sliding ski. The easiest way toachieve this is by forcing the forward leg out each time, so that it forms an acute angle at the knee. Atfirst, your legs will tire rapidly because you are making muscles work that are normally unused.To a degree, the more you make your sliding-ski slide, the stronger your basic maneuver will be. Thekey to your efficiency lies in developing good rhythm. Once you have achieved good rhythm on yourskis, you can go on to the diagonal stride. Without learning this stride, you are really only running onyour skis and no one can endure this for great distances or maintain any speed.

The diagonal stride consists of applying force to the opposite pole in order to maximize the slide of theskis across the snow. By having long glides, you minimize movements and energy outputs, hence youlessen fatigue. The poles do not actually exert a great deal of power, but they act as timing and balancingmechanisms. The basic movements are these:

Thrust one leg forward along with the opposite arm, and plant the pole ahead of the foot and about teninches to the side. Put all your weight on the forward ski as it slides out. As the forward slide begins todiminish, put pressure on the planted pole and draw the rear ski forward as quickly as possible, bringingthe other pole forward to repeat the cycle. The whole idea is to increase the length of the glide bykicking with the rear leg. To achieve this, you must learn to maintain proper balance, leaning slightlyforward and with the knees slightly bent.

The Kick Turn The kick turn is the basic maneuver for changing direction. It can be done on levelground or on a slope, if the skier is perpendicular to the fall line. The fall line is the shortest line downthe hill. To make a kick turn, bring one ski forward and up so that its tail is embedded in the snow halfway between the boot and the tip of the other ski. When the ski is almost vertical, it can be rotated andput down facing in the opposite direction of the second ski. The other ski is then picked up and crossedover the first ski, and placed beside the first ski. You have now made a 180-degree turn in direction.Poles are used in this maneuver to help maintain balance. The kick turn is actually quite easy to performonce you have become accustomed to your skis. With the kick turn, you can traverse almost any slope.

Downhill Techniques Sliding downhill on cross-country skis is not at all difficult, but it does requirepractise and total familiarity with these light skis. For straight downhill running, the best stability isobtained with a wide stance. Poles can be used to help with balancing. It is also best to run downhillwith one ski slightly ahead of the other. The same type of crouch can be used as in alpine skiing.

Straight downhill runs can also be done in the telemark position. In this position, the torso of the skier isalmost vertical. The forward ski should form a right angle with the leg and the knee, while the knee ofthe other leg lies close to the trailing ski so that the shin is almost parallel to it, This position is best insoft, windblown snow. when conditions are unpredictable. It is also good over uneven and bumpyground.

Downhill turns can be achieved by edging or by a step turn. To make an edge turn, the skier simplyrotates his ankles so that the edge of the ski will knife into the snow. This will cause him to move swiftlyin that direction. When making an edge turn, the skis should be close together to minimize the chancesof failing. The poles again are used to help balance the skier.Edge turns should be practised on gentle slopes first. They are most useful in deep snow. Once you havemastered them, you will find that they are a good way of turning.

The step turn is the basic turn of cross-country ski touring. To make this turn, the skier crouches with hisknees bent and his weight on the heels of his skis. He then, picking up one ski at a time, moves to theright or left with short steps. Since with each step he is actually pushing off with the trailing ski, theskier's speed is increased. Thi's is frequently very disconcerting to the tyro. However, it need not be. It isagain a good idea to practise the step turn on gentle slopes before taking on steep ones.

To control speed, cross-country ski tourers can use the step turns or Christianias of the alpine skiers, orthe snow plow, in which the skis form a V at the tip. For this, the skier should place his weight well backon his heels and bring his knees forward.

There are other downhill techniques that the cross-country skier can use, such as the pole-jump turn, thetelemark turn, the ski glosside using the poles to act as brakes on descending narrow trails. and so on,but they are beyond the scope of this brief introductory chapter.

Uphill Techniques The cross-country skier soon learns that the shortest route is not always the fastest. Itis frequently faster to go around a hill than to climb it. Also it is sometimes faster to select longer butgentler slopes on hills, This is much like deciding between shooting the rapids or portaging. Shootingthe rapids may save time. but if you swamp the canoe, you will have to spend half a day trying tosalvage and dry your gear.

One way to climb a slope is by traversing it. By edging the skis, the ski tourer makes a level track.Diagonal strides can also be used to go up gentle slopes, but the slides must be kept short. Traversinghere will also help. On steep slopes, the side step is the easiest. It is certainly easier than the V-shapedherringbone step. In the side step, the ski tourer simply moves up the hill sideways, keeping the skisacross the slope. The poles are used for balance and support.

The only other techniques required of the cross-country ski tourer involve crossing obstacles. In mostcases, this is largely a matter of common sense and convenience. When crossing bare roads andhighways, skis should be taken off and carried.

Every cross-country skier must expect to take falls. Obviously beginners will fall more frequently. Oneof the secrets of failing is to learn to relax and not stiffen up. This is why professional wrestlers and stuntmen seldom ever get hurt, even when they fall. The second thing is to learn to control the fall. Ifpossible, try to fall on soft snow on the side of the trail rather than on packed snow. Failing flat on yourface, surprisingly enough, is frequently the safest. The cross-country bindings offer enough flexibility toallow you to fall to the side. Dropping back on your skis may cause a broken ski, but it may be the safestway to fall on steep, brushy slopes.

WAXING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS

Correct waxing is one of the secrets of cross-country ski touring. Correctly waxed skis allow the tourerto ski down a slope as well as climb a twenty-degree slope without side stepping.

Different snow conditions require different waxing techniques. This presents immediate problems,because snow conditions can change in the course of a day. It is easier to wax for fresh snow than forold, icy snow or wet snow. There are a number of waxing kits on the market, many of which giveinstructions and have guides for what waxes to use and how. To become proficient at waxing skis takesa fair amount of ski-touring experience and a bit of experimentation. There is no other way around it.

It is impossible to cover all the techniques and methods of ski touring in one short introductory chapter.Anyone who is interested in the sport should purchase a good book on the subject. There are a numberof reasonably priced paperbacks on ski touring on the market. One of the best is Edward Baldwin'sCross-Country Skiing Handbook.

CHAPTER 16THE BASICS OF SNOWMOBILING

There is no doubt that the power toboggan has revolutionized winter outdoor recreation throughout thenorthern portion of this continent. Alas, not all its effects have been beneficial. Snowmobiling has hadits growing pains. Harassment of wildlife, destruction of young trees, cutting of wire fences, trespassingon private property, and littering, have caused problems. But in the last few years, there have been manyindications that snowmobile enthusiasts are showing signs of maturity. Through public education, theformation of snowmobile clubs, and the establishment of snowmobile trails, snow mobile misuse and thepoor outdoor manners of snowmobilers have declined.

Although I am not a big snowmobile booster, I do recognize their value. They have opened up vaststretches of the northern woods that no one ever traveled during the winter months. I admit to apreference for snowshoes and cross-country skis, but I use a snowmobile as well. A snowmobile enablesme to fish remote lakes. I have also used a snowmobile to carry me quickly into the backwoods, andthen snowshoed to points of interest.

The snowmobile has made the work of many woods workers much easier. I know of northern Canadiantrappers who can, with a snowmobile, live at home with their families and cover their traplines withease. It enables them to travel greater distances, spreading out the harvest of raw furs over a wider area.It has even helped to establish humane trapping methods. How? A trapper now can easily carry the bigand bulky Conibear traps that kill instantly. This was difficult to do when a man had to walk everywhereon snowshoes.

Although I know how to operate a snowmobile efficiently and safely, I do not consider myself an expertin the field. To write this chapter, I sought the advice of the snowmobiling experts of the OutboardMarine Corporation, manufacturers of several brands of snowmobiles.

DRIVING A SNOWMOBILEIt takes only a few minutes to master the basic controls of a snowmobile. As all models differ slightlyfrom one another, study the owner's manual for your specific machine before trying the machine out. Fora beginner, the best place to practise is in the wide open spaces. Fields, snow-covered frozen lakes, orany other large space you can find that is free of trees and other obstructions is a good place to practise.And as with any form of sport, practice makes perfect. Snowmobiles are in their element off the road.Snowmobiling is the most fun after a medium snowfall (six to twelve inches). Extremely hard packedsnow or glaring ice make for tricky handling.

Balance and track contact are the two basic things to watch when handling a snowmobile. Once youhave these mastered, you can tackle steep grades, traverse hillsides, and twist through wooded areas withyour vehicle under total control. During your learning hours, play it safe. The principle of balance isquite simple. On rolling terrain or on the side of a hill, the snowmobile has a tendency to tip. You mustbe ready to shift your weight to counteract this tendency. For example, if you are climbing a steep slope,you will probably have to lean "into the hill" to maintain balance.

Track contact is the second important consideration. The turning action of the track provides the forwardmovement of the machine. If the snowmobile banks too far to the left or right, it will lose partial or totalcontact with the snow surface, and the results will be the same as jacking up the rear wheels of a car.You can apply all the gas you want, but you will not be going very far. You are just spinning the trackand not obtaining maximum power.

Snowmobilers have developed three driver positions to attain best balance and track contact. The sittingposition is the most common. followed by kneeling and standing. In the kneeling position, the driverplaces his right knee on the seat and his left foot on the running board. In the standing position, hestraddles the seat, placing both feet on the running boards. You should try all three positions and choosethe one that gives you maximum control and permits quick shifting of weight.

Turning The most important maneuver in snowmobiling is turning. Turning a snowmobile is a lot liketurning a bike or motorcycle. The more you lean into a turn with your body, the sharper will be the turn.One thing to remember when turning is that you have got to have enough power to keep moving. Toolittle throttle and you will stall your turn. Try a few figure 8's with at least a forty-foot diameter in eachloop. Go slowly at first, gradually building up speed on repeated runs until you feel the machine start to"slip" sideways. This can be controlled by either easing off or increasing the throttle opening. A littleexperimentation will tell you how much power you will need for different snow conditions.

Now try a series of left and right turns along a straight course, like a slalom skier. Just as you foundwhen you first started to drive a car, turning in one direction will be easier. When you find your weakside, practise turning on it a little more than on the other side.

General Riding Tips Most snowmobiles were made to carry two people the driver and one passenger.The heavier the load on a snowmobile, the less performance you will get from it. When you are cruisingin the woods, watch out for tree branches, snow-covered logs or hidden snow-filled depressions, andother hazards that could upset your machine. Dips or holes have a way of becoming nearly invisibleduring the late afternoon when the light becomes poor. Be careful driving at this time. Use goggles withamber lenses for flat light conditions and smoke-colored lenses for glare light conditions.

Plan ahead. When you drive up a hill, remember that you have to come down that hill too. If the hill isvery steep, you should have a good plan as to how to get down. On very steep hills it is a good idea to"traverse" the hill on the way down by making shallow sweeps across the face of the slope, progressingthirty feet vertically with each sweep.

Test the snow conditions before setting off on any trip. What was true of yesterday's snow is not alwaystrue of today's. An overnight freeze or snowfall can bring surprises. Before taking off, try a few turnsand stops. You will get a better feeling of the trail and you will have more fun.

Lower your speed in unfamiliar territory, keeping an eye peeled for obstacles. If you are riding double,both people must be on the alert to maintain good balance. The person riding behind the driver should beprepared to shift his weight at any time to counteract a lean when crossing rolling terrain.

Traveling on ice and on hard-packed surfaces can be tricky. If the surface is too slick, the track mayhave difficulty making good solid contact. You can prevent this by starting out slowly and building upspeed gradually. If the track starts to slip, retard the throttle slightly and try again. Practise with shiftingbody weight and the proper use of the throttle and brakes and soon you will have mastered most snowconditions.

BE WELL EQUIPPED

For minor emergencies that may arise, you should be well equipped on any snowmobile outing. Youshould always carry a tool kit in including a spare drive belt, spark plugs, a plug wrench, an adjustablewrench, pliers, a screwdriver, electrician's tape, your owner's manual, and a tow rope.

As on any outing in the out-of-doors, it is a good idea to carry a map of the area where you aresnowmobiling, as well as a compass (it is easy to become disoriented on a snowy day), a first-aid kit, anax, a good quality knife, and a container of windproof and water proof matches.

If you plan a long trip strap a pair of snowshoes onto the snowmobile for each passenger. Carry anemergency fuel supply!

A lightweight block and tackle with up to fiftty feet of rope may mean the difference between gettingyour snowmobile going again if badly mired, or abandoning it.

BE PROPERLY DRESSED

Snowmobiling will not be much fun if you are not properly dressed. In fact, improper dress can be ahazard in this sport. Of course yourThe snowmobiler should be well dressed in a windproof suit, warm boots, gloves, and, ideally, a helmet.Shatterproof snow goggles are also a good, safe way to protect your eyes from sun glare and flying ice.

Snowmobile clothing must be warm and windproof, and it should be as waterproof as possible. It shouldalso be light and flexible and not too tight. You must have freedom of movement in order to handle yourmachine properly.

Many people prefer the insulated one-piece suits, snug at the ankles, wrists, and neck. Others find thetwo-piece suits (coat and pants) more convenient. Insulated boots should be worn, and these bootsshould be as waterproof as possible. The boots should also have non-skid soles and a drawstring top inorder to keep out snow.

A face mask of some sort is essential for sub-zero weather. Face masks come in many varieties andsome look pretty weird, but when snowmobiling, comfort comes first. Thermal underwear and socks,and heavy mitts with wool liners will protect you in severe cold. Heavy gloves or mitts are also usefulfor pushing away branches when driving through the woods.

When operating a snowmobile in especially rugged areas or woods it is a good idea to wear a helmetover a woollen liner to protect your head from injury. The glare of the sun off the snow often dictates theuse of tinted, shatterproof goggles. Goggles also protect the eyes against wind and against branches andtwigs when driving through wooded areas.

Always try to keep clothing and footwear dry. When you get off your machine to exercise, take care notto get overheated. If you perspire, you will be colder later on. If it becomes necessary, loosen yourclothing to allow warm air to escape.

It is extremely important that you do not wear long scarves or mufflers that may leave loose ends flyingin the breeze. There is always a chance that these loose ends may get caught in the drive train or thetrack, with disastrous results.

Watch for frostbite when out in temperatures of zero or below, or even above zero if the wind is strong.Use the buddy system to spot the telltale white spots on the exposed flesh of ears, cheeks, or noses ofyour companions. Minor frostbites will respond quickly to the thawing effect of a warm hand or otherheat. Refrain from rubbing a frostbitten spot, as this may damage frozen skin tissue but will certainlycause severe chapping.

SNOWMOBILE SAFETY

Some preliminary precautions to take when using a snowmobile are: stay physically fit; know yourequipment; plan your activities in advance; wear proper clothing; check the weather forecast beforeventuring any distance; and remember that alcohol and snowmobiles don't mix. Staying physically fit isof primary importance because below-zero weather lowers human efliciency and you must always bearin mind that if you break down you may have to walk.

Check the throttle and brake controls on your machine before starting out. Be sure both move freelywithout sticking. A frozen throttle could send your snowmobile out of the starting gate like a cannon,and it could injure you and others. Check your headlights and tall lights if traveling at night. Carry aflashlight as a backup device.

Be sure you have plenty of fuel. Carry an emergency fuel supply. Travel with other people. Particularlyin unfamiliar territory it Is good to have at least one other machine with you. In fact, one of the bestideas is to join a local snowmobile club. You will have lots of fun and you can learn from othersnowmobilers. If you are pulling a sled or toboggan, use a rigid tow-bar to prevent rear-end collisions onsudden stops.

Do not willfully jump your vehicle. Even the experts have difficulty in controlling machines whose skisand track are air-borne.

When you are a newcomer, whether to the area or to the sports stick to established trails. Marked trailshave been provided in many parks, national forests, and conservation areas for your convenience. Byfollowing them, you reduce the possibilities of having ail accident or trespassing on private property.

If you get off trails, travel with caution in unknown areas. Snow camouflages many unexpected changesin terrain. Match your speed to the terrain. Traveling too fast over rough snow surfaces increase, thechance of unpleasant spills. Tipping over into soft snow may be part of the fun, but a spill at high speedcan be dangerous.

Never cross rivers or unknown lakes at night. At all times, use extreme caution when traveling on ice.Currents and weather conditions can make ice unsafe. Breaking through thin ice is a major cause serioussnowmobile accidents. Unexpected skids on ice are also dangerous.

If YOU stay on marked trails, you will not travel on roadways

railroad right-of-ways. These were not created for snowmobiles andshould not be used by them. If it is necessary to cross a roadway ora railway track, stop your snowmobile and make a thorough checkfor any traffic Then cross at right angles as quickly as possible. Avoidcollisions with other snowmobiles by throttling down at trail intersections and when other snowmobiles are approaching from an angle

If you become mired in deep snow, be patient. Never take a chance slipping under the track whenpushing the machine with the track running. If others are helping you, do not let them tug on the skiwhile you run the vehicle. It could come out of the snow suddenly and injure them. If your track needsclearing, do not let anyone lift the tail while standing behind it, while you are running the track ahighspeed. Projectiles hurling off a spinning track can be extremely dangerous,

Know wind-chill hazards and avoid frostbite. Wear a protection face mask if it is very cold. Numbness isgenerally the first sign of frostbite. If you feel this condition, stop and warm yourself before the frostbitebecomes serious.

Even if you consider yourself an expert at driving your snowmobile its trailer, a winch is a much betteridea. Many injuries and damaged automobile trunks have resulted from "experts" driving onto theirtrailers. Once your snowmobile is on the trailer, make sure it is tied down securely.

CHAPTER 17GIVE THE COOK A CHANCE

One of the bonuses of such outdoor pastimes as fishing and hunting is fish and game for the dinner table.No store purchase can duplicate the delicacy of a shore lunch of freshly caught walleye or brook trout.No supermarket chicken can compare to pheasant or ruffed grouse. And steaks of moose or cariboubroiled over hardwood coals or charcoal on the patio barbecue can be much more flavorful than beefproduced in modern feedlots and pumped full of antibiotics and specially designed feed to acceleratetheir growth.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR CATCH

I learned when very young that the faster a fish is put into the frying pan and onto the fire after it iscaught, the better it tastes. Fish, unlike game, does not improve with aging. Of course it is not alwaysfeasible or possible to cook fish right after they have been caught, but a shore meal of fresh fish is adelightful part of fishing and the outdoors. Fish deteriorate and lose their fine flavor very quickly afterbeing caught if they are not properly handled. To let any fish deteriorate to the point where it is a poormeal is a shame. It would have been better to let the fish go to reproduce and to fight another day. To leta fine game fish spoil so that it is unfit for human consumption is literally a crime. If you let this happenyou are a disgrace to the fraternity of fishermen. Letting fish spoil is against the law almost across theentirety of the United States and Canada.

But it is not surprising that so many fishermen do not like to eat fish. If I treated fish the way they do, Iwould not like it either. Yet it is almost as easy to take care of fish properly as it is improperly.

One of the worst culprits is the fish stringer. Often by the time the fish are taken off to be cleaned, theyhave already deteriorated in quality. The warm surface temperature of the water in the summer monthskills and spoils fish quickly. Any fish that struggles for a long time before dying or being killed will notbe in as good a condition as one that is killed immediately. A far better gadget than a stringer forkeeping fish alive is a collapsible fish keeper made of plastic hoops and nylon netting. In such a sack,fish will live for hours or even days.If a fish stringer is all you have, do not string the fish through the gill slit. You will injure tile gills andthe fish will die much faster. String the fish through the lower jaw by puncturing a hole. Do not dragyour fish behind your boat at fast speeds, while moving from one spot to another. When you do this to afish, its gills cannot function. It cannot breathe and so it suffocates.

The best way to keep fish is on ice. That is how commercial fishermen do it, and they manage to keeptheir fish fresh and firm. In summer, every fisherman should have an ice chest with him, filled withchipped ice. When a fish is caught, it should be killed immediately by rapping it sharply on the headwith a stick and then buried in the ice. Ideally the fish should be dressed - gutted and gills removed.Certainly big fish should always be gutted.

Do not let the fish in your ice chest slip down into the melted water. Keep the spigot on the chest open.A wooden rack made of dowelling for the bottom of the ice chest is a good way to keep fish out of anywater that may not have drained from the chest.

During the cool spring months, fish can be kept for several hours in the open air. The old-fashionedwicker creel is good for this. It allows air to circulate, but does not expose the fish to the sun. One thing Ifeel very strongly about is that any fish which is to be kept in a boat or on shore should be killedimmediately. It is degrading to the angler, to the sport, and certainly to a fine game fish, to see it flopabout and die slowly. Every creature deserves a dignified death.

Cleaning fish is one chore that no one really likes. I do not either. But there is a right and a wrong way todo it, and the right way is generally the fastest. How a fish should be cleaned is determined partially byhow you want to cook it. Will the fish be fried, broiled, or baked? The size of the fish also plays a role.For example, the fish may be too small to fillet.

To clean small trout - skillet-sized trout - all you need to do is to gut them, cut the gills out, wash anddry them, and they are ready to cook.

Any fish that you intend to bake or broil whole can be cleaned with a minimum of equipment - a bigboard, a sharp knife, and a scaling tool. Light cotton gloves are also handy. Fish are easier to grasp witha gloved hand, and the gloves prevent scratches from spiny dorsal fins.

To clean a fish that is to be cooked whole, first scale the fish briskly with a scaling tool. Do this underrunning water to keep the scales from flying all over your basement floor. But be sure to put a screen inthe sink drain-hole to avoid plugging up the drain with fish scales. With most fish, scaling from the tailto the head goes fastest.

Cut out the vent or anus with a "V" Cut. Then hold the fish belly down on the board and cut through thespine just behind the head.

Don't cut through the entrails of the fish. After severing the spine. push and twist on the head with onehand and pull on the body. The head will come loose with all of the entrails attached. Cut off the finsand wash out the dressed fish. Now it is ready for the pan.

Filleting a fish is also easy. For this you make your first cut behind the gills - . slice down to the boneand, without removing the blade, begin slicing straight along the backbone towards the tail. Keepcutting all the way to the tail. You will notice that the fillet in the diagram has been cut away from therest of the fish.

After slicing the fillet on to the tail, turn the fish over and do thesame thing on the other side. When you have done this, you havecut away both fillets without disturbing the fish's entrails. This is theneatest and fastest way to prepare your fish.

To finish your fillets. you must remove the rib section. Again, Youwill need a sharp and flexible knife to avoid wasting meat. Insert the blade close to the rib bones andslice the entire section away. This should be done before the skin is removed to keep waste to aminimum. The skin can be removed from each fillet by simply inserting the knife at the tail and cuttingthe meat from the skin. Start cutting a half inch from the tail end of the skin, allowing a wedge for thebest grip. With a proper filleting knife, it is very easy.

You now have each fillet ready for the pan or the freezer. There is no waste. Remember not to overwashthe fillets. You do not want to wash away the tasty juices or take away from the fish's natural firm state.

Cutting out the cheeks is the next step. Few fishermen know that the checks are the filet mignon of thefish. Although small, they are tasty and well worth saving. Slice into the cheek where indicated, thenscoop out the meat with the blade, peeling away the skin. Repeat the same procedure on the other side.Many fishermen save these cheeks until they have enough for a real gourmet's delight. After filletingyou should wind up with the fish head, entrails, spine, fins, and tail all intact. This is the neatest way toprepare most fish, and once you have mastered it, it is the easiest.

Catfish have to be skinned. With big catfish, start by making a circular cut not much more than skindeep completely around the fish, just behind the gills. Then make two more skin-deep cuts, one alongthe back to the tail and the other down the belly to the tail. Take a corner of the skin on the back of thefish with a pair of pliers and pull the skin tailwards with one smooth motion. Now repeat this on theother side. With a bit of practice, it goes very quickly. With real whoppers you may have to use bothhands on each side with a pair of pliers in each hand, and you may find the skinning task easier if thecatfish is hung by its head.

Skinning and dressing small pan-sized catfish is easy. You should start by placing your knife behind theadipose fin (the small, fleshy fin on the back of the back) and cutting the skin until your knife reachesthe dorsal fin. Watch out for the backbone. Continue to cut downwards behind the head, through the fishand right down to the spine, but not through it. Lay the knife down and grasp the head in your right hand(if you are right-handed) and the body of the catfish in your left hand. Bend the head down and break thebackbone.

Then insert a finger of your left hand over the end of the spine and into the rib cage and pull firmly.With your right hand, slowly pull the head toward the tail. Do this smoothly and steadily. Do not jerk!The skin will peel smoothly, taking the guts, still attached to the head, with it. Your catfish is now readyfor washing and the pan. This technique takes a bit of practice, but it is the easiest way to clean catfishthat I know of.

There is no doubt that fresh fish are superior to frozen fish. There is also no doubt that if care has beentaken to freeze the fish properly, frozen fish can be exceptionally good. A fish that has been killed andcleaned immediately after being caught, has been kept on ice, and has been frozen the same day, cannotbe distinguished by the average person from a fresh fish, as long as the fish has not been kept in thefreezer for too long.

Fish, like all meat and vegetable products, should be frozen as soon after harvesting as possible. Itshould also be frozen as quickly as possible. This is best accomplished by placing fish, once they havebeen packaged, around the outside of the freezer near the freezer coils and by not overloading the freezerwith too much food to be frozen at one time. Most freezers today are quite efficient, and can freezesolidly and very quickly one-and-a-half to two pounds of product per cubic foot of freezer space.

Frozen fish should be stored between zero and twenty degrees Fahrenheit to keep enzyme activity to aminimum. Of course fish must be adequately wrapped for freezing to guard against moisture loss anddiscoloration commonly called "freezer burn". Pack your fish in heavy plastic freezer bags or freezerwrap, carefully eliminating all air from the bag before closing and tying it. Label your packages as towhat species of fish they contain, whether they are whole fish or fillets, and the date they were frozen.

Fish can also be frozen in containers made of plastic or glass. This is very handy for small fish or fishchunks. To freeze fish in containers, pack the containers carefully to within one or one-and-a-half inchesof the top. It is important to leave an airspace at the top for expansion once the liquid in the containerhas frozen. Fill the space around and between the fish with a chilled two-and-a-half percent brinesolution. The fish must be covered with this solution. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the solution.Now secure the top of the container, making an airtight seal. When the container is placed in the freezer,the ice formed around the fish will keep the flesh away from air and will prevent any loss of moisture.The only disadvantage of this method of storing fish is that the containers take up a large amount offreezer space.

For maximum flavor, frozen fish in plastic bags or freezer wrap should be used within two to threemonths. Fish frozen in container filled with brine can be kept a little longer, up to six or nine monthsThe best way to defrost fish is slowly in your refrigerator. Most fish take about twenty-four hours tothaw. Thawing at room temperature is not a good idea. If you need your fish in a hurry, defrost them byimmersing them in cold water. Never refreeze fish.

TAKING CARE OF WILD MEAT

Every outdoorsman should know the basic procedures for dressing and skinning game. It is one of themusts of wilderness survival. A number of factors affect the taste and flavor of wild meat. For example,some game' species are tastier than others. Also, the taste of meat frequently depends on the physicalcondition of the animal, e.g. what it has been feeding, and even on its age. For instance, a bull mooseshot during or shortly after the rut is generally in poor condition. The fat that the bull put on during thesummer is gone burned up in chasing cows and fighting other bulls. During the rut, mating, not feeding,gets preference in a bull's daily life. The animal is thin and sinewy, consequently the meat will not be atits best.

But basically the quality of wild meat depends on how the animal was killed and how it was treatedimmediately after being shot. An animal that has been wounded and then tracked and chased all over thebackwoods has its system full of adrenalin and will not be as good as the one that was killed when it wascompletely relaxed Also, the faster the game cools off after being shot, the better it taste. This is truefrom mallards to moose.

DRESSING BIG GAME

Big game animals should be dressed immediately after shooting. This means opening and emptying thebody cavity, thus allowing the animal to cool quickly. This is most easily accomplished by laying theanimal on its back with its head uphill if possible. The animal may have to be anchored with rocksplaced by its side or with its legs spread apart and tied to trees. Be sure not to touch the musk glands justbelow the hocks. They are marked by tufts of dark hair. The glands give off an oil with an odor that cantaint your hands.

First, the anus and rectum are loosened by cutting in the rump around them and they are firmly tied. Acut is then made in the skin and the abdominal wall from the pelvic bone right up to the rib cage. Cutslowly, with the edge of the knife pointing upwards, working the blade between two fingers which liftthe skin and the abdominal wall away from the internal organs as you cut. Make sure that you do notpuncture the intestines. Cut around the penis and loosen it at this time.

Loosen the diaphragm, the wall of tissue separating the stomach and intestines from the lungs and heart.This is done by cutting around the diaphragm close to the ribs. In deer-sized animals, you can now reachup and grasp the windpipe and gullet. Cut these off as high as possible with your other hand. In elk andmoose-sized animals, you have to split the ribs with an ax or a hatchet to be able to reach the windpipeand gullet. When the windpipe and gullet are cut free, you can strip all the viscera and organs with astrong backward pull on the gullet and windpipe. An occasional cut with a knife will help to free theinternal organs from the mesentery tissues as you pull. When you come to the pelvis, finish looseningthe rectum by cutting from the inside of the carcass and pulling the anus through. Then drag the offalaway from the carcass, keeping the heart and the liver. This basic dressing technique works on all biggame animals.

The next step is to wipe up any spilled matter from the intestines and blood from the inside of thecarcass. A dry rag is best, but moss or leaves can be used. If you have to wash something off with water,dry the cavity thoroughly afterwards. Meat that is left wet for any length of time can spoil.

You must cut away the musk glands on the hind legs. With a finger and a thumb, pinch and pull up theglands while sliding a sharp knife under them and cutting right along the base. Throw the removedglands away and wash or wipe your hands and the knife before touching any meat. Some hunters preferto deal with the glands first, before even dressing the animal. This is fine if you are near water and canwash afterwards but, if YOU are not, it is better not to take a chance on tainting your hands and the knife.

In the very mild weather of early fall, it Is frequently necessary to quarter a moose or elk carcass in orderto get it to cool quickly. A field-dressed moose or elk (one with its internal organs removed) is a massiveanimal. The meat on the animal's back is insulated by the ground and can sour quickly. The best way toprevent this is to quarter the animal and hang it. This is not always necessary in cold weather; however,for the best possible meat it is a good idea to skin and quarter every big game animal while it is stillwarm. Then place the meat in loose cheesecloth and let it cool. Trim away the badly shot meat or it willcause spoilage.

Of course it is not always possible to skin out big game after every hunt. However, all big game shouldbe kept off the ground after fielddressing so that it can cool quickly. With elk or moose, you have toprop the carcass up with logs and poles, or quarter and hang it. Deer-sized animals are normally hungwhole. The carcass should be left hanging for a period of a few days up to as much as fourteen days in acool, breezy spot. Keep it away from the sun. The length of the hanging period depends upon thetemperature. If the temperature is above fifty degrees, four or five days is fine. If the temperaturefluctuates between twenty and forty, two weeks is excellent. Beef is best kept in a cold locker at thirty-five degrees for two weeks and ageing wild meat properly is even more important than ageing beef fortenderness. Your meat is then ready for cutting and wrapping for the freezer. You can let your localbutcher do this. Deer, moose, and elk can be cut up just like a steer. Trim away as much fat as possiblebecause it is the fat that contains much of the gamy flavor that many people find objectionable.

SKINNING BIG GAME

Skinning big game is not difficult. Generally the legs are cut off below the knee and hock joints. Theskin is then girdled and peeled away. The body is skinned out very quickly. In the case of bears, the cutsare made on the inside of the legs and the feet are skinned out, keeping the claws on the foot if a rug is tobe made from the skin. This is also done in the case of mountain goats where the hoofs are left attachedto the skin. All skinning is much easier when the carcass is still warm. Try to keep the hair away fromthe meat. The hair of the pronghorn can taint the meat a little.

The trickiest part of skinning big game is around the head. This has to be done if the head is to bemounted. If you can have the head frozen or can get the head to a taxidermist within a few days, leave itfor him to skin out. There is less chance of a mistake or a wrong cut, but if you are going to be in thebush for a couple of weeks, you must skin out the head, particularly on bears, or the hair will start toslip. Skin slowly and carefully, particularly around the eyes and lips. Cut the ears off flush with theskull. Cut the entire snout off where the septum between the nostrils meets the skull. Scrape all the fleshaway from the hide and salt the hide well, rubbing the salt in.

EQUIPMENT

Besides a good knife and a honing stone, the big game hunter may also need a hatchet or a light ax, ameat saw, cheesecloth meat bags, and ropes and pulleys to dress his animals and take care, of the meat.A light ax is needed for splitting the pelvis of a moose or elk. A meat saw is best for getting throughbones and for quartering big game, but the task can also be done with a light ax. Meat bags are needed inwarm weather to protect the meat from flies. Ropes and pulleys are needed to get a moose or elk off theground and out of the woods. The type of game you hunt dictates what type of equipment you need.

DRESSING SMALL GAME

Rabbits and squirrels are very easy to skin while they are still warm. Squirrels, once they are cold, aremuch harder. The easiest way is to behead the animal and cut off its feet and tail. Then pinch the skin onthe back and cut through it, making the cut from the root of the tail to the neck. Stick the fingers of onehand around the carcass, inside the skin, and pull the skin away with the other hand. It is as easy aspulling a glove off a hand. Small game can be field dressed immediately after shooting with a techniquesimilar to that for deer or you can wait until the animal is skinned out to dress it.

GAME BIRDS

The diet of game birds influences their taste and flavor. There is a big difference between a mallard anda merganser, and between a mallard feeding on wheat in a stubble field and a mallard in a marsh. Butjust like big game, the flavor of fowl depends upon how the birds were treated after shooting. The worstthing for game birds is to put them into an air-tight, rubberized game pocket in the back of a huntingjacket, particularly on a warm day. The best place to carry birds is in a game carrier on a belt or over theshoulder, letting air circulate around them as much as possible.

DRESSING GAME BIRDS

There is no doubt that field-dressing birds immediately after they are retrieved is a good idea. It hastenscooling and helps to keep fluids from the punctured viscera out of the body cavity. Such game birds assage grouse and spruce grouse should be dressed immediately and their crops removed, for the bestflavour. It is also a good idea to do this for the species of ducks that eat a great deal of animal matter.With other game birds, it is not as important, unless they have been badly shot. However, it is stillpreferable to do it right away.

Field-dressing a game bird is easy. First, cut yourself from a branch a bird-gutting hook about the lengthand thickness of a pencil. The hook portion is made from an off-running branch. Then cut a small slit bythe vent and insert the hook into the bird's body cavity. Twist it around three or four times and pull outthe entrails. Some European folding hunting knives have a bird-gutting hook on them - a wonderful idea.The detailed cleaning is done later.

The field-dressing can be done more easily with your hands. If you are near water, that is fine. It takesonly a moment to wash your hands and continue the hunt. Field-dressed birds can be left hanging in acool, breezy place for several days without deteriorating in flavor. Refrigeration is needed only if thebirds are to be kept a week or more in mild weather before being eaten or frozen.

SKINNING GAME BIRDS

Some hunters prefer to skin their birds, mainly because it is easier. However, to us purists, skinninggame birds such as quail, ruffed grouse, pheasants, mallards, and canvasbacks is a bit of blasphemy.Skinning removes much of the fine flavor, particularly if the birds are to be roasted. The birds also dryout more when cooked. However, if the birds will be cooked in a sauce or gravy, or coated first, they canbe skinned. Certainly such ducks as goldeneyes, bluebills, and the sea ducks are better skinned. Skinningremoves some of the fat and the strong flavor with it. Skinning game birds is very easy. Simply loosenthe skin on the breast and start peeling. Skinning ducks is another matter. You have to pull and cut.

PLUCKING GAME BIRDS

Plucking game birds is a more time consuming chore, particularly if they have many pin feathers. Pluckthe feathers out by taking "pinches" of them between the thumb and the first two fingers and pull withthe grain - the direction in which they lie - not against the grain or you will tear the skin. Do not takepinches that are too big or the skin will tear. All game birds can be plucked dry. However, waterfowl,particularly if there are many of them, are much easier to pluck after being scalded for about twentyseconds in 145 degree water. The best way to scald the bird is to hold it by its head and dunk it into abucket of scalding water. Waterfowl will have on them a hair-like fuzz. This is best removed by singeingwith a candle. After plucking and dressing, the birds must be washed carefully and dried. They are thenready for the oven or the freezer.

Most game that has been shot cleanly and quickly and then properly handled after the shot will outclassanything you can buy in a supermarket. Game cooking is an art. A game dinner, fully complementedwith side trimmings and fine wines, can be a feast indeed - a noble end to a good hunt.

Any outdoorsman may, at some time in his outdoor adventures, land or bag a trophy fish or animal. Theprocedures to follow in such a case are beyond the scope of this chapter on dealing with game and fishfor the table. But there are many books on hunting and fishing that do deal with this.

CHAPTER 18THE ABC'S OF WILDERNESS SURVIVAL

Skills for wilderness survival, like those for administering first aid, are skills that every outdoorsmanhopes he will never have to use. But when they are needed, they are indispensable. At the risk ofsounding dramatic, they may spell the difference between life and death. I can only cover the very basicelements of wilderness survival in this chapter; the subject is simply too broad and complex.

A knowledge of wilderness survival is essential for anyone who loves to travel in the wilds - the aircraftcarrying you into a remote fishing lake may crash; you may lose your compass and become lost; yourcanoe may overturn and all your gear may be lost. In short, an emergency may develop at any time. Idon't think it is necessary for every outdoorsman to be a survival expert, but I do think that everyoutdoorsman should know the basics. Such skills, even if they are never used in an actual emergency,are helpful in building confidence and self reliance in the out-of-doors. A man who has confidence in hisability to survive in an emergency is unlikely to succumb to fear, loneliness, or panic.

Many excellent books have been written on the subject of wilderness survival, including one entitledWilderness Survival by a good friend, Berndt Berglund. Even home-study courses in wilderness survivalcan be taken from National Survival Incorporated.

THE SEVEN DEADLY ENEMIES

To survive an emergency in the wilderness, you must be in the proper frame of mind. Your attitude -your determination to survive, the instinct to live - must be paramount. Fear, loneliness, pain, cold,fatigue, hunger, and thirst are the seven deadly enemies you must guard against. Singly or incombination, they can rob you of your self confidence or, even worse, of your desire to struggle for life.

Fear is nothing to be ashamed of. Only a fool is never afraid. The point is to control your fear and not letit get control of you. If the feeling of panic or fear starts to creep up on you, think of positive things -your ability as an outdoorsman, your skill in the woods. A man on the verge of panic cannot thinklogically. He is prone to rash actions that may be foolhardy and dangerous.

Loneliness is a second cousin to fear. They frequently travel together. The worst thing about lonelinessis that it strikes without warning. Suddenly you realize that you are alone. This will gnaw at you,lowering your resistance and vitality. If you feel loneliness coming on, keep busy - sing, whistle toyourself, go out and gather food, do anything to keep your mind off the fact that you are alone.

Pain is nature's signal that something is wrong. In moments of excitement, you may not feel pain. Butwhen things calm down a bit, pain surfaces. Tend to your wounds, but do not let pain get the best of you.It can weaken the desire to go on.

Cold can be a severe threat to survival. It numbs the spirit as well as the body. If you are out in thewinter months, plan your shelter and fire in such a way as to minimize the effects of cold temperatures.A person freezes to death only when he is overly tired and sleepy; otherwise the cold will not let him fallasleep.

Fatigue reduces mental ability. It can make you thoughtless and uncaring. Fatigue is not always theresult of overwork or overexertion. Many times it is the result of a mental attitude - frustration,hopelessness, or lack of a plan. Do not exert yourself, but keep making plans as to how to survive thecrisis.

Hunger makes all of us more susceptible to cold, pain, and fear. A man with a full belly rarely loses hisoptimism. Conserve your food and, if you get a chance, add fish, game, and edible plants to your larder.

Thirst can be maddening. It can dull the mind and promote panic. A man can survive a week or longerwithout food, but not without water. In dry country, do not leave a water source. Beware of dehydrationeven when there is plenty of water around you.

TO STAY OR TO WALK OUT

Whether to stay and camp, or to attempt to walk out, is the first decision for you to make. If you are lost,you should stay. You do not know where to go anyway. That is why you are lost. Make camp near anopening or a lake where a searching aircraft will have a better chance of spotting you.

On the other hand, if you have been forced into a survival situation because of an airplane crash or acanoe overturning, you could attempt to walk out if you have a map and a compass and are not morethan a few days from a road, a railway, or a human habitation. Otherwise you should stay. Do not riskgetting lost. Searchers are more likely to find you if you are near an aircraft.

The first rule in a wilderness emergency is to keep your clothing and equipment in good repair. Yourpersonal survival kit should contain a couple of needles and some strong thread. Mend any rips in yourclothing. Sew on any buttons that may have come loose. Heated resin from evergreens makes good glue.Strips of green deer or moose hide make good bindings. As the hide dries, it will shrink and pull tighter.There is a way of repairing most clothing and tools in the wilderness axes, knives, gunstocks, puncturesin canoes, and so on - by using a bit of ingenuity.

SHELTERS

The first thing you must build is a shelter. What kind of shelter will depend on the materials at hand,including what material you may have with you. A shelter can be made from evergreen branches,bullrushes and reeds, sod, bark, slabs of rocks, or even snow blocks. Canvas or plastic sheeting areexcellent.

A lean-to structure is the easiest to build. It should have at least a forty-five degree slope to its roof toshed rain. Roots or strips of bark or animal hide can be used as lashings. Do not make your shelter largerthan necessary to hold you and your gear. The larger the shelter, the harder it will be to keep it warm. Incold weather, do not neglect to insulate the floor with evergreen boughs or, even better. with dry grass orrushes. Loose snow is an excellent insulating material for sides and roofs.

Do not neglect natural shelters such as caves, if they are not damp or occupied by bears. Spruce treeswith branches to the ground can also make good snug shelters in winter. However, more branches maybe needed to reinforce them. The only disadvantage with such shelters, is that no fire can be built inside,lest it melt the snow. Snow houses are also potential shelters in the far north during winter, but a snowsaw-knife is needed to build one. Only a downed aircraft would carry such an implement.

Shelters should be located in places that protect them from wind.

Summer may be the only exception to this because of insects. In summer, windswept areas have fewerblackflies and mosquitos. Remember, southern exposures are always warmer.

FIRE

Once a shelter has been built, a fire is an important consideration. To warm the shelter, build the fire asclose to the opening of the shelter as safety will allow. Construct a log reflector behind the fire to reflectheat towards the shelter. If possible, use only dead, standing trees for firewood. These will be drier andwill give better heat. Dead trees on the ground tend to be wet and burn poorly.

Make sure that you build a good fireplace of rocks or mineral soil so that your fire will not accidentallyspread. A forest fire might leave you in an even worse predicament. In winter, do not build your firenear evergreen trees laden with snow. The heat may cause the snow to slide down. Shelter the fire fromwind or build your fireplace on the lee side. Do not use rocks that might explode - limestone inparticular - around a fire. Watch out for sparks and flying embers. They could burn holes in yourclothing or sleeping bag.

Obviously anyone venturing into the bush, even if he is planning to stay on the fringes, should carry anample supply of strike-anywhere matches in a waterproof container. In fact, I always carry twocontainers - the second one holding special wind-resistant and water-resistant matches. A cigarettelighter is also a good bet as long as the fuel lasts. I would not advise anyone going into the bush withonly a lighter. A flint and steel should be a part of every personal survival kit.

Save your matches! This is one of the axioms of survival. Use tinder such as dry moss, grass, dryshredded cedar bark, or dry birch bark to start a fire. Have plenty of it on hand. If tinder is not handy,make feather sticks of dry soft wood for lighting fires. If you have a steel and flint in your survival kit,use it instead of matches. At night, bank your fire so that you can start a new one from the hot embers inthe morning. This is an old Indian trick - it saves matches.

In an emergency, ammunition can be used to start a fire. How? It's easy. Simply remove the bullet orshot and wad from a round, and pour half the powder into a bed of tinder. Then place a bit of cotton, softcloth, or dry moss or lichens into the round as wadding. Fire the gun in the air. The wadding shouldburst into flames and can then be placed on the tinder.

On sunny days, convex lenses such as magnifying glasses, miner's lenses, or lenses from cameras, rifle'scopes, or binoculars can be use to start a fire by focusing the lens with a hot pinpoint on tinder. Film isalso very highly flammable and a lens will ignite it almost immediately. A battery from a downedaircraft or wrecked power boat can produce an electric arc, and a gasoline-dampened rag or tinder willignite instantly. But do not try this near the aircraft.

SIGNALS

There are a large number of signals that a lost person can use. Priority should be given to smoke signals.You may be in a wilderness area, but perhaps not so deep that a forest-fire tower or a firepatrol aircraftcannot be able to spot you.

In a clearing, build three signal fires at least a hundred feet apart in a triangle. If this is not feasiblebecause you are in thick bush, build three fires in a line or on a lakeshore or riverbank. These should bebuilt near your shelter so that you can light them quickly if you hear an aircraft overhead. Build thesefires from dry wood, but additional fuel should be green branches, moss, grass, or leaves anything thatwill smoke heavily. Rubber and oil from aircraft make lots of black smoke. Do not try to keep the firesburning all the time or you will waste too much energy feeding them. But have the fires ready to start ata moment's notice. Keep the wood dry in case of bad weather by covering it with evergreen boughs.These can be burned later to create smoke.

Light signals are also effective. The best one is a "torch tree". It is visible for many miles. To do this,select a lone-standing evergreen with thick foliage. Dry, highly flammable material such as bark,kindling wood, or moss among the lower branches is necessary. Then build a big bonfire around thetrunk of the tree at the base. As the bonfire flares up, it will ignite the tinder in the branches and start theentire tree burning like a huge torch.

Again, you should have the torch tree prepared ahead of time so that when you hear an aircraft you willbe ready to signal. A torch tree can be started in the winter by knocking off all the snow and ice from thetree. If you start a couple of smaller fires near your intended torch tree, the heat from them will knockthe snow off and help to dry the torch tree off. Torch trees throw sparks. So exhibit caution and vigilanceagainst possible forest fires.

Gasoline and oil from a downed aircraft can be used to start big flash fire when a search aircraft is used.A bed of grass or soml~ cloth can be used for this gasolineoil fire.

Three of anything - three shots, three whistle blasts, three flashes of a signal mirror - is the internationaldistress code. This is the code you should use when signalling to searchers.

GROUND-TO-AIR SIGNALS

After you have prepared your smoke signals and torch tree, build some ground-to-air signals. These canbe constructed from evergreen branches on snow or on a sandy beach. Peeled logs or white birch logsare good on a dark background. Sand, large rocks, and stones can also be used. The more contrast youcan create between the signals and their background, the more easily they will be seen. Size is alsoimportant. They must be fifty feet long and longer if possible.

Be sure the terrain is reasonably safe for aircraft to land - that the lake is deep enough with no boulders,that there are no hidden rocks on the tundra, and that the terrain will support a light aircraft. If an aircraftcannot land, you may have to walk out.

FOOD AND WATER

A man with a full belly can withstand hardships that a starving man could never endure. Water isgenerally a problem only in dry country. A man lost in the deserts of the southwest or northern Mexicowill be in serious trouble if he doesn't find water.

It is impossible for an uninjured, knowledgeable, and skilled outdoorsman to die of hunger in thetemperate regions of this continent during the spring, summer, or autumn months. There is just too muchfood around. Even in winter, there is still plenty of food, but harvesting it is more difficult. Food is likelyto be a more serious problem in the Arctic. But even here, a man with a rifle can survive.

The subject of food gathering - hunting, snaring, trapping, fishing, and harvesting edible plants and fruits- is so vast that I can only touch upon it in this chapter. However, I must state that there are very fewcreatures on this continent that a man should not eat, and certainly no fresh-water fish that are harmful.

If you ever become lost or stranded in the wilderness, immediately conserve any emergency rations youmay have. If you can add to your food supply by harvesting any animals, fish, or edible plants, do so,even if you expect to be found or rescued the next day. Having an ample supply of food will give youconfidence even if you are not rescued when expected. There is something about having a supply offood that is comforting to the human mind - a sort of hoarding instinct.

For example, I know a man who once got lost on a moose hunt. He was worried. From a high ridge hespotted a fairly large lake and decided that that was where he should stay while waiting to be found. Onhis way to the lake, he encountered a moose, which he promptly shot. After he dressed the moose andskinned it, keeping the hide intact to use as a blanket, he built a small lean-to against an overgrown treenear the shoreline of the lake. He built three smoke fires and waited. The second day after he was lost,he heard an aircraft. The aircraft spotted his smoke fires, landed on the lake, and rescued him. It evenhauled out his quartered moose. The man was at no time worried about not surviving. He knew that hehad enough food for a long time and this gave him the confidence he needed to settle down and wait tobe rescued.

EDIBLE PLANTS

Green plants such a spruce tips, willow tips, leaves of Labrador tea, dandelion leaves, and many othersare a good source of vitamin C. The best way to ingest this is to drink tea made from such leaves. Rosehips, the fruits of the wild rose, also have a high vitamin C content. Another good source of vitamin C isthe cambium, the inner layer between the bark and the wood of poplar, jack pine, and spruce.The flowers of many wild plants in North America are safe to eat. The roots of cattail, wild carrot, tigerlily, lady's slipper, arrowhead plant, vetch, and other plants with thick fibrous roots are good sources ofcarbohydrates. They can be eaten raw or boiled. The roots of the water lily are edible when boiled twiceor even three times, but the water should be changed between boilings to remove the acrid flavor.

Greens such as dandelion leaves, young green milkweed pods, young waterlily seed pods, the lowerinner core of young cattails, and young pigweed can all be eaten raw or stewed. Fiddleheads, the frondsof ferns, are delicious.

Berries are another source of food. Almost everyone knows the common ones such as blueberries,raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and wintergreen. But be careful with others unless you canpositively identify them. Red and white berries are more prone to be poisonous than not, unless youknow them. Avoid any black or bluecolored berries in bunches. If you come across berries you don'tknow and want to try them, eat only a few and wait twenty-four hours for a reaction. Then eat a littlemore and wait again. If, after the second twenty-four-hour period, nothing unpleasant has occurred, theberries are probably safe. Other fruits such as wild cherries, acorns, and nuts of all kinds are safe to eat.

Among the lower plants, lichens can be eaten. Scrape these off rocks and stumps. They can be eatenboiled, dried, or dried and powdered, and used in stews and soups. The lemon lichen is edible and verycommon. Mushrooms should be eaten only by those who know them. Although only a few arepoisonous, these can be deadly. Generally speaking, anything that birds and animals eat is likely to besafe for you to eat, but always make the sample-and-wait test before eating something new or unknown.Two very poisonous plants are the baneberry with its cluster of red and white berries and the waterhemlock whose purplestreaked leaves have a foul odor when crushed. There are no poisonous plantsabove the tree line in the Arctic.

The water hemlock is one of the relatively few poisonous plants in the outdoors. Other deadly plantsinclude some of the mushrooms and the baneberry.

WILDLIFE

Aside from some of the insects, particularly caterpillars, you can eat just about anything in the way ofanimal life. Large earthworms, snails, grasshoppers, and crickets are all edible. Grasshoppers or locustshave a nutty flavor when roasted, and are considered a delicacy in the Middle East. Frogs, lizards, andsnakes (even the poisonous ones) can also be eaten. Indeed, snakes are reputed to be quite tasty.

However, mammals, birds, and fish are generally more important to a man trying to survive, if for noother reason than because they are larger and more abundant. While plant materials and some of theinvertebrate animals can be gathered with the bare hands, this is not the case for fish, birds, andmammals. You will have to have or make traps, snares, or weapons. Snares and traps are the mosteffective way of taking small mammals and birds. Rabbits can be easily taken by snares of differenttypes. The snares should be set on known rabbit runs. These are easy to find in thick cover or whensnow is on the ground. Squirrels can also be taken on snares set on leaning poles against trees. It is wiseto set two or three snares in succession, because often squirrels travel in pairs.

Big game such as deer can also be snared. There are essentially two types of snares for this. One is theApache foot snare which snares the animal's foot and is anchored to a log which the animal must drag.The other is a neck or head snare set about eighteen inches off the ground. The noose must be abouttwenty-four inches in diameter. This snare is also anchored to a log or a very strong whippy sapling.These snares must be set on known deer trails.

Snares can be made of almost any kind of rope or wire. Certainly wire snares are superior to anythingelse because they are thin, difficult to see, and easy to bend into position. For big game, the snare has tobe very strong because a snared animal will exert a great deal of force in its frenzy to get away. Snaresfor small game can be made from strips of deer skin or moose hide, strong string, or heavy fishing line. Ihave even used boot laces. Most small game snares are lethal. They kill the animal almost instantly.Every survival kit should contain a coil or two of snare wire.

Fur-bearing animals such as foxes can be taken with a stone beehive trap baited with fish. Dead-falltraps can also be used. Birds can be caught in the Ojibway bird snare. The Canada jay or whiskeyjack isparticularly vulnerable. Gulls can be caught on baited fish hooks. Grouse - ruffed, blue, and spruce - canfrequently be caught on a noose on a pole. Indeed, often grouse can be killed with rocks. In thewilderness, these birds are usually very trusting. The eggs and young of birds are very nutritious. Nestsof ground-nesting birds are easy to find on the Arctic islands. Geese can be killed with clubs during theirflightless stage of moult.

Generally mammals cannot be taken without a weapon. A club is the easiest weapon to make. A club isall a man needs for a porcupine. A rap on the head will kill this spiny animal instantly. A porcupineshould be skinned from its bare belly. If you see porcupine damage on the branches of trees, watchcarefully. You will probably encounter more porcupines in trees, and they are easily shaken down.

The only other mammals that can be killed with a club are lemmings and mice. Lemmings in particularmay be a very important source of survival food in the Arctic regions. Such aquatic mammals as beaversand muskrats are also easily killed with a club, if you can catch them on shore. If you see beaveractivity, watch carefully. Sit down and wait. Perhaps you can catch one by cutting off its escape routeonce it goes on land.

Other simple weapons are: throwing sticks for birds and small mammals, a catapult made from anyrubber or elastic in an aircraft, or even a bow and arrow. But usually these weapons are not veryeffective and practice is needed with them to achieve a fair degree of proficiency.

A firearm is invaluable for survival. Normally aircraft flying over wilderness areas carry guns in theirsurvival kits. In hunting for survival, one must forget any sort of sporting ethic. Your ability to survivedepends on your skill as a hunter. The man who knows intimately the habits and habitat requirements ofwildlife is bound to be more successful as a hunter. The basic rules of hunting are: move quietly andslowly; look a lot; move upwind or cross wind; watch for game signs such as well-worn game trails,tracks, droppings, feeding activities, dens, holes, and salt licks. In dry country, water holes are goodplaces to wait downwind.

Remember that any bird or mammal can be eaten - even such fur-bearing animals as mink, martens,fishers, foxes and wolves. The various ground squirrels, marmots, and woodchucks are all edible. Suchanimals as otters, lynx, bobcat, and cougar have a reputation of being very tasty. Owls are said to beindistinguishable from grouse in a stew pot.

Remember not to waste ammunition. Kill the biggest animal you can find. Deer, elk, moose, and bearsare all very good to eat. So are seal, caribou, muskox, and polar bear in the Arctic regions. Any sort offirearm is better than none. In an emergency, game can be killed with a shotgun loaded with bird shot ifthe hunter can get close enough. Big game can also be killed with a small-bore rifle such as thecommon .22 rimfire. However, center-fire rifles of .30 caliber are the best choice for big game animals,while a twelve-gauge shotgun is the most efficient type of firearm for small game.

A Mauser-type bolt-action rifle is an excellent choice for an aircraft and for wilderness expeditionsbecause of its simplicity, ruggedness, and dependability. The well-known .30, 06 caliber is probably thewisest choice. A double-barrelled shotgun with two triggers is the best type of shotgun. It is rugged andsimple, it can be dismantled readily to fit into a small place and, above all, it is really two guns in one.Should the firing pin break on one barrel, the other barrel can still be used. Also, one barrel of such agun can be loaded with bird shot for small game while the other barrel can be loaded with rifle slugs orbuckshot for big game. The hunter is then prepared for any type of game he may encounter.

Another excellent survival firearm is the combination over-and-under. With such a gun one barrel is arifle barrel and the other is a shotgun. The combination over-and-unders are made in many different riflecalibers and shotgun gauges in Europe, including .30, 06 and twelve gauge. Unfortunately these guns arevery expensive, $500 or more. However, there is a suitable over-and-under made in the United States -the Savage Model 24V. This is available in .30-30 and twenty gauge, three-inch magnum barrels. Thetwenty-gauge magnum comes close to being as effective as a twelve gauge. The .30-30 cartridge is notas good as the .30, 06 for very big game such as moose and elk, but it is ample if a hunter gets closeenough and places his shot well. The advantage of an over-and-under is that one firearm is both a rifleand a shotgun. The Savage Model 24V is a simple, rugged gun, and at the same time it is short and light.It can be taken down for storage. Its current list price is a little less than $100.

Fish can be an important source of food. During spawning runs in the spring or fall, many species of fish- pike, trout, char, salmon, and suckers - are particularly vulnerable. Dams of various kinds can beconstructed in the shallows to trip or contain the fish. They are also more vulnerable to spearing andsnagging at this time. A surprisingly efficient fish spear can be made from a tri-fork of a green hardwoodlimb that has been baked in a fire to harden. The points should be sharp and, if possible, have barbs.

Of course fish can also be caught on hooks and line. Certainly every personal survival kit should havestrong line, hooks of various sizes, and some artificial lures such as spoons and spinners. Hooks can alsobe fashioned from nails, pins, animal bones, and shells. Metal can be heated in a fire and crude hookspounded and bent with stones.

Lures can be fashioned from shiny metal. The bowl of a soup spoon makes a very fine fishing spoononce a hook is attached. Brightly colored bits of cloth and bits of aluminum foil can also be used aslures. Meat of any kind, particularly the less edible parts of fish, and, of course, large insects, frogs,crawfish, and earthworms all make suitable bait.

An aircraft should carry a good length of fishing net - nylon gillnet being best - fully equipped withsinkers and floats. Fishing with a net is far more effective than fishing with a hook and line. Once the netis set, it works continuously. A net can be set just about anywhere, including under the ice, by beingpassed from one hole to another with notched sticks. The places to set a net are near steep drop-offs,entrances of weedy bays, stream mouths, and pools below rapids - in short, the kind of places that fishfrequent.

COOKING AND PRESERVING MEAT

My first piece of advice is not to waste anything. Almost every part of an animal can be eaten except thebones and hair. Aside from such internal organs as the liver, heart, and kidneys, other parts such as thelungs, stomach, intestines, and brain can all be eaten. (Only the liver from the polar bear is poisonousbecause of its high vitamin A content.) The long bones of legs can be cracked open for their nourishingmarrow. Do not waste any fat, even if you cannot eat it now. You may need it later to eat with lean meatsuch as rabbits. Fat may also be used to make leather boots waterproof and to soften dry skins.

Do not waste any skins or hides. When you skin an animal, do it in such a way that the skin remainsintact. The skins can be used for blankets, coverings, clothing, or for making into rope.

Game and fish can be cooked in a number of ways. If you have a large survival kit from an aircraft, nodoubt it will contain cooking utensils. The task of cooking is much easier then. But game and fish can becooked over an open fire by broiling it on a green stick over the coals and flames. This is probably thebest way to cook small game, birds, and fish. Chunks of moose or caribou meat or chunks of a big fishcan also be cooked in this way.

Strips of meat can also be cooked directly on coals or on any sheets of metal placed on the coals. Fishcan be split open and attached to a slab of a log and cooked that way. Both fish and meat can be baked inhot coals by coating the fish or meat in clay. The scales or skin should be left attached to the fish. Do noteat any fish raw because of parasites, but deer, moose, and caribou can certainly be eaten rare like beef.However, bear meat should be cooked well like pork and for the same reason - it can cause trichinosiswhen eaten raw.

Meat and fish can be preserved in a number of ways. Freezing is the simplest. But they can also be cutinto thin strips and fillets and dried in the sun and wind or over a smoky fire. Large chunks of meat canbe preserved in coolish weather simply by hanging them in a cool, dry, and breezy spot and letting ahard crust or rind form around them. This rind is cut away when the meat is eaten. Moisture is the bigculprit behind meat spoilage. If a mold forms on the outside of moist meat, cut or scrape the mold awayand eat the meat. The mold is just a fungus. In warm weather cooked meat of any sort keeps better thanraw meat.

Smoking is a very effective way of preserving meat. A simple smoke house can be built on a steep bank.Just dig a trench up the bank and cover it with branches and sod. The fireplace is at the bottom of thetrench. A shelter or smoke chamber is constructed in the form of a tepee at the top using bark, skins,canvas, or sticks covered with sod. The smoke will travel up the trench into the smoke chamber.

Hardwoods are the best bet as far as woods used for smoking are concerned. If possible, avoidevergreens which, due to their gums and resins, have a tendency to give the meat an off-flavor. In theArctic, permafrost provides good cold storage. Dig a hole until you hit it. Put your meat in, preferablywrapped in something, and bury it.

Surplus food should be stored or cached so that it is safe from would-be robbers - mice, birds, and bears.Hanging meat ten to fifteen feet off the ground will protect it from bears but, unless it is covered,Canada jays and even ravens will get at it. Evergreen branches can be hung around it to ward off at leastsome birds.

SURVIVAL KITS

Throughout this chapter I have frequently referred to survival kits. I do not think anyone should go on awilderness trip, even for a day, without some essential pieces of survival equipment. Ideally thisequipment should be contained in a canvas or leather pouch. The personal survival kit must be lightenough and small enough to fit into the pocket of a jacket or on a belt.

It should contain a small folding knife, a small compass, a signalling mirror, a whistle for signalling,fishing line, hooks, three or four lures, snare wire, a waterproof container of strike-anywhere matches, aflint and steel for starting fires, a container of waterproof and wind-resistant matches, two cubes ofchemical fire starter in case no dry tinder can be found, needles and strong thread, and a couple of sticksof freeze-dried meat or salami. Besides this the outdoorsman should carry on his person a good knifeplus a fairly sophisticated compass and a small pocket stone in a leather sheath for touching up theknife's edge.

A survival kit for an aircraft should contain a personal kit along the lines mentioned above, plus afirearm and ammunition, an ax, a folding shovel, emergency rations (canned or freeze-dried), cookingutensils, tough plastic sheeting or a piece of canvas for shelter. All this should be in a kit bag or duffelbag. The aircraft should also carry sleeping bags plus a small tent.

FILE A FLIGHT PLAN

Just as aircraft file flight plans on where they are going, so should you. No one should ever venture intothe wilderness without telling someone, preferably two or more people, where they are going and whenthey will be back.

If you are hiking, hunting, or fishing in the wilderness out of the main camp, tell your partners in whichdirection you are going. Arrange a signal - three shots or a signal flare fired from a rifle for a specifichour at night if one of you fails to return by nightfall. If you are going on a wilderness canoe trip, tell theforest ranger or local game warden when you expect to be back, with instructions that if you are twodays late to organize a search.

If you are camped alone somewhere and are going out for a day's hike, leave a note at your campsitetelling where you are going and when you expect to be back. If you have driven to a spot to fish or hikefor a day, leave a note on your car windshield.

CHAPTER 19THE OUTDOORSMAN'S FIRST-AID KIT

The old Boy Scout motto - Be Prepared - may sound like a corny cliche but its meaning is still veryapplicable to every outdoorsman. No one should go on a canoe trip, a fishing trip, or a camping tripwithout an adequate first-aid kit and, of course, some knowledge of first aid.

There are many first-aid kits on the market for use in an automobile. Some are simply junk, but othersare well conceived and equipped. The better kits are ideal for an automobile camping trip, but they aretoo bulky and heavy for the backpacker, the canoe tripper, the hiker, or even the hunter or fishermangoing on a fly-in or horseback trip.

Here is a plan for a first-aid kit that is light enough and small enough to be packed along on anywilderness trip, yet it can be used to treat everything from a fairly serious cut to dysentery. This kit wasdesigned by E. Russell Kodet, M.D., and was described in Outdoor Life magazine some years ago. Ihave assembled one of these kits and have found it to be extremely useful. Some of the contents have yetto be used, but a day may come when they will be needed.

There is no substitute for immediate medical attention when a serious injury has occurred. But onwilderness trips, medical attention is generally hours, if not days, away. And even on outings nearhospitals and doctors, immediate first aid can minimize discomfort and pain and even prevent death.

Now for the kit. The only liquid that this kit contains is eyedrops. Liquids are heavy and they frequentlyspill. There is also no alcohol or antiseptic in this kit. Although many first-aid books, particularly theolder ones, recommend that cuts and scratches be doused liberally with alcohol or antiseptics to killgerms, these materials also kill living tissue. Germs grow best in dead or devitalized tissue, and certainlydevitalized tissue heals more slowly than healthy tissue.

The best way to treat cuts and scratches is to wash them with soap and water and dress them. If thewound is oozing, a plastic-like absorbent tissue such as Telfa should be placed over the wound first toprevent sticking. Then the wound should be dressed. The gauze recommended for this kit is the Klingtype. This gauze adheres to itself, thereby making it easier to use. A gaping wound should be broughttogether with a "butterfly" plastic tape. In areas where there is a fair amount of movement, a butterflymay not do the job. A suture may be needed. No one should attempt sutures - even if he knows how ifthe victim can be taken to a doctor. But if a doctor is days away, there may be no other choice. Making astitch or suture is not difficult. Since the wound is generally painful already and the nerves lying close tothe skin are frequently severed by the cut, the needle causes less pain than one might suspect. No painkillers such as Novocaine are used, because syringes and needles require special precautions that justdon't fit into the scheme of a first-aid kit such as this.

Suturing packages can be bought with the needle already attached to the suture material. They come indifferent thicknesses, but 3-0 is suitable for everything except the face. The cut should be washed anddried, and then stitched. The needle is held in a hemostat, a sort of small, medical, needle-nosed plierthat locks. The hemostat has other uses in the wilderness as well, such as removing thorns and slivers.

Stitches should always be taken only through the skin, never deeper. After the knot is tied the ends areleft one-quarter inch long to make removal (after about seven days) easier. No suturing should ever beattempted near the eyes by a layman. The one advantage of suturing is that it usually stops the bleedingvery quickly, and this makes the injured person feel much more at ease.

Eyedrops that will act as a local anesthetic and treat inflammation or infection can be very useful on awilderness trip. An outdoorsman's eyes are very susceptible to injury. A branch can whip back and hithim in the face; wood chips from chopping wood present a hazard; cinders from a campfire arehazardous; and snow blindness can occur from participation in winter sports such as snowshoeing. skitouring, snowmobiling, ice fishing, or hunting in winter. In high altitudes, one can get conjunctivitiswhich has symptoms like snow blindness. One good eyedrop remedy is a mixture of equal parts ofPontocaine and Neohydeltrasol. A drop every two or three hours is the recommended dosage. Thetreated eye will lose its ability to blink. which protects and cleanses it from dust, so cover it with a cleanhandkerchief or at least stay out of windy places. This will wear off in approximately two hours.

Hikers, backpackers, and hunters going into the mountains frequently get headaches due to the highaltitude, but after the first day or two they usually adjust to the thinner air. Aspirin can be taken forheadache relief, but often it is not enough. An Empirin compound is more effective. This can also beused to relieve pain due to sunburn, poison-ivy rash, or sprains. It has no effect on pain stemming frominternal organs.

Nausea and intestinal cramps can be treated with Tridol or Campazinc. The dosage rates vary dependingon the weight of the tablets; a dozen tablets should be ample. If continuous vomiting occurs, get medicalhelp fast. It could be something serious.

For severe infections, blood poisoning, and pneumonia, strong antibiotics are needed. The kit shouldcontain penicillin or Achromycin. Ten tablets should be ample. But you must be careful with penicillin.Some persons are allergic to it, and treating someone with penicillin who does not know whether or nothe is allergic can be hazardous.

Diarrhoea can also be a problem, particularly when traveling in the wilderness of Africa or SouthAmerica. Tainted foods or water are frequent causes of this. Lomotil tablets give relief. Eighteen tabletsshould be ample for any emergency. Sulfasuxidine is also good for sterilizing the intestines. The kitshould include some tablets for relief of constipation, which can be caused by a change in diet.

If you have any recurring health problems, the kit should contain necessary medication to treat it. Thisshould be spare. medication in excess of what you will need.

Many of the drugs I have suggested can be obtained only with a doctor's prescription, so consult withyour family physician. Most family doctors will give you the necessary prescriptions once they knowwhat these drugs are to be used for. It is not a bad idea to consult him about the contents of your first-aidkit. He may have valuable suggestions. Some doctors may have trepidations about some of thetreatments (for example, the suturing), but when they realize that you would stitch a victim only whenyou are four days of hard paddling away from medical help, they will see the point.

The kit I have suggested costs about twenty dollars to assemble. It weighs no more than six ouncesincluding the pouch that it is kept in. If you make substitutions in the kit, keep weight and bulk in mind.

The following is a list of the proposed contents of a first-aid kit:

Band Aids gauze flats Kling roller bandage butterflies tape

Everyone should know a bit of first aid, but such knowledge is even more essential for an outdoorsmanwho frequently is far from a hospital or doctor. Knowing what to do when a calamity strikes could easepain or suffering, and even prevent death.

The basic techniques for first aid are simple. There is no reason for not knowing them. With a littleknowledge of first aid and a firstaid kit such as the one described in the previous chapter, you can handlemost minor mishaps.

GENERAL RULES

Whether treating a victim of an accident or illness, there are several basic rules you must follow inadministering first aid. They are:1. Remain calm. Carry out your first-aid tasks quickly, quietly, and with an absolute minimum of fussand panic.

2. Check the breathing of the victim. Give artificial respiration if breathing has stopped. With thisprocedure, every second counts.

3. Check bleeding. Do not touch burns or injuries with your bare hands.

4. Do not move the patient unless you are certain he can be moved safely.

5. Reassure the patient and keep him calm, warm, and comfortable.

6. Do not administer liquids to an unconscious person.

7. Watch for symptoms of shock.

8. Do not attempt too much. Do the minimum that is essential to save life and to prevent the conditionfrom worsening; but remember, you are only a layman.

There are two types of afflictions that can mar an outdoor trip accidents and illnesses. The following willgive you a brief idea of what to do in the case of the more common types of accidents and illnesses.There are several good books available on general first-aid procedures, one of which is put out by the St.John Ambulance Association, the volunteer first-aid organization.

ACCIDENTS

Cuts, Scrapes, Abrasions. These types of wounds are fairly common in the outdoors, resulting from falls,misuse of knives, and so on. What generally has to be done in these cases is to stop the bleeding andprevent any infection. Make the patient sit or lie down. Blood escapes with far less force when thepatient sits quietly, and still less force when the patient is prone. Elevate the bleeding part, except in thecase of a fractured limb. It is important to remember not to remove any blood clot that has alreadyformed. Remove any foreign bodies that are visible in the wound and around it, by picking or wipingthese off with a piece of clean dressing. Apply and maintain pressure until the bleeding stops. Apply adressing pad and a bandage.

In the case of lacerations stop the bleeding as quickly as possible by applying hand pressure above thewound; then apply a dressing pad.

In the case of very severe lacerations, a constrictive bandage, such as a tourniquet, may have to be usedto stop or retard hemorrhaging. Be sure to loosen the bandage every fifteen minutes so that theremainder of the limb receives an adequate supply of blood.

In the case of hemorrhage, pressure will have to be applied to the part of the wound from which theblood is coming. If a foreign body or a broken bone is present in the wound, press alongside it and notover it. Dress the wound and continue the application of pressure until the bleeding stops.

Fractures The most important thing to remember with a fracture is to treat it on the spot. You shouldnever try to move the casualty until the fractured part has been immobilized, unless, of course, the life ofthe patient is in danger from some other cause. If circumstances dictate that final immobilization cannotbe completed on the spot, then sufficient temporary immobilization should be carried out so that thepatient can be moved safely to another location. Generally speaking, hemorrhages and severe woundsshould be dealt with before fractures.

Fractures can be immobilized by the use of bandages and splints. Be careful when applying either ofthese - there may be more than one broken bone involved. Bandages must be applied firmly enough toprevent harmful movement, but they must not be so tight as to prevent blood circulation. In the case of abroken limb, swelling may occur and then the bandages will become too tight. If this happens, loosenthem.

Splints should be long enough to immobilize the joint both above and below the fracture. They must befirm and preferably wide and they should also be well padded. Splints can be improvised from staffs, skipoles, pieces of wood, or even from stiff cardboard. Once the fractured limb has been immobilized thepatient should be moved out very carefully to medical help.

Burns It is important when treating burns to avoid handling the affected areas any more than necessary.Always make sure that your hands are as clean as possible. Do not apply lotions of any kind. Do notremove burnt clothing, and do not break any blisters that may form. Cover the burn with a prepared, dry,sterile dressing from your first-aid kit. You can bandage the burned area firmly while seeking medicalhelp, but if there are blisters present on the burn, bandage only lightly.

Sunburn All outdoorsmen like to get out in the hot summer sun, but watch out for sunburn! Prevention isthe best cure for sunburn. Sunburn is treated in much the same way as other bums. If the sunburn issevere, an antiseptic emulsion can be applied freely and covered with a dressing or bandage. Leave thedressing on. Do not break any blisters that may form. And remember, sunburn can also occur on a brightday in winter.

Windburn Windburn can also be a problem in the out-of-doors. It can be treated in much the same wayas sunburn, but it, too, can be prevented by wearing proper clothing and by covering exposed areas offlesh with a lotion or cream to prevent the skin from drying out on windy days.

Heat Exhaustion, Heat Stroke, and Sun Stroke All are very serious if you are far away from medicalhelp. The best treatment for all of these is to place the patient in the coolest spot possible, to remove hisclothing, and to sprinkle him with water or wrap him in a wet sheet and fan him. The idea here is tolower his body temperature. But take care not to lower the temperature too much. When the temperaturehas been lowered, wrap the patient in a dry sheet and continue to fan him. If his temperature rises again,repeat the treatment. In the case of heat exhaustion, the patient may complain of feeling cold. If he does,keep him comfortably warm. Watch his body temperature carefully.

Heart Attacks It is very difficult, if not impossible, for first-aid laymen to tell if a person who becomesfaint or unconscious is suffering from a heart attack. If you are going into the outdoors with someonewho is known to have a heart condition, he will probably have medication with him. Find outbeforehand where his medication is kept and what the dosages are.

In the case of a suspected heart attack, move the patient as little as possible. Support him in a sittingposition, as a failing heart works more economically this way than lying down. Be careful not to let himfall forward. Also, undo any tight clothing around the neck or waist to lessen any impediment to bloodcirculation or breathing. Get the patient medical aid as soon as you can.

Frostbite Frostbite and freezing are dangerous because they may become extensive before you are fullyaware of them. If you engage in a lot of winter sports, you should be on the alert for freezing.

As soon as frostbite is recognized, thaw the frostbitten area by applying heat. For frostbite spots on theface, a warm hand will sometimes suffice. Make certain the area is dry. Do not rub or massage thefrostbitten area. This may cause the tissues that are fragile when frozen to break. Do not apply snow.Because snow is at air temperature, it will only make the frostbite worse.

If a hand or foot is frozen, warm it very gradually, and in the meantime, massage the parts adjacent tothe frostbitten area so that circulation will be increased. The patient can drink warm fluids, but you mustbe careful not to apply any heat directly to the frozen part. After thawing has taken place, an antisepticemulsion can be applied and the area can be bandaged. Swelling, redness, and most likely blistering willoccur sometime after the frostbitten part has been thawed. Get the patient to a doctor as soon as possible.

Snowblindness Snowblindness is becoming increasingly frequent due to the growing popularity of

winter sports such as snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. Snowblindness is literally a"burning" of the eyes caused by light reflected in all directions from snow. Treatment consists mainly ofshielding the eyes from light. Put a bandage around the eyes and get the victim to medical aid as soon aspossible. The victim will probably need an opthalmic ointment and a week or more of care to cure hiseyes. Incidentally, people who have suffered from snowblindness before are more susceptible to it.

Blisters Blisters are one of the medical scourges of the outdoors. Every outdoorsman, at one time oranother, gets a blister on his foot from a pair of boots that just do not agree with him. The best way toavoid blisters is to wear comfortable boots and good socks. Make sure your boots are well broken inbefore going on long hikes or trips. If blisters do occur, do not break them. Keep them bandaged withdry sterile gauze and let them dry up on their own.

Shock Shock is a condition of severe depression of the vital functions. It can occur in conjunction withmost of the afflictions mentioned above. Shock is generally associated with changes in the circulatorysystem, mainly due to loss of whole blood or plasma. The severity of shock depends on the amount andrapidity of the blood loss. When treating any of the conditions mentioned above, always watch for signsof shock. General symptoms of shock may vary from a transient attack of faintness to a complete state ofcollapse. General signs include giddiness and faintness, coldness, nausea, pallor, cold clammy skin, aslow pulse rate which tends to become progressively worse, vomiting, and unconsciousness.

Shock is treated by laying the victim on his back with his head low and turned to one side (unless thereis an injury to the head or chest). Reassure the patient and loosen clothing about the neck, chest, andwaist. Wrap him in something warm. If he complains of thirst, give him sips of water, tea, or some otherliquid, but no alcohol. Do not apply heat or friction to the limbs. Get the patient to a doctor as soon aspossible.

ILLNESSES

Illnesses are not very often encountered in the out-of-doors. Perhaps the most common ones arediarrhoea and constipation due to change of habits and change of food. Any first-aid kit should containmedication to combat either of these afflictions, but if the conditions persist, the patient should go to adoctor.

Nausea can occur on canoeing or boating trips to people who are prone to seasickness. If you are proneto seasickness, take along some anti-nausea pills (available in any pharmacy).

People who suffer from hayfever or other allergies sometimes have problems in the outdoors during thelate summer and early fall because of the amount of weed pollen in the air. People with known allergiesshould carry their prescribed medications with them.

Anyone going on a trip into the outdoors who has a particular medical problem should make certain thathe has enough prescribed medication with him for the trip and in case of possible emergency. If youhave any medications that should be taken at specific times or for specific purposes, let your outdoorpartner know about them.

A knowledge of first aid is particularly important in the out-of-doors because so often medical help is afair distance away. But the most important thing to remember on your outdoor adventures is the oldcliche about an ounce of prevention being worth more than a pound of cure.

In this book, I have tried to pass on many of the elemental skills and some of the basic know-how thateveryone who ventures into the outdoors should have. Some sections have dealt only with pleasures andesthetics, others have dealt with practical knowledge, and some are for emergency use only.

But equally important, I have tried to give a glimpse, a basic insight, into the rational use of theoutdoors. There are times when it is just as wrong to lead a string of pack-horses over a mountainmeadow as it is to shoot a bull elk. But there are times when both can be done without nature being theloser. The real outdoorsman knows the right and the wrong things, the right and wrong times.